Pumpkin Pie Tragedy!....AVERTED!!!!!

My daughter got an extra pumpkin for Halloween from her preschool Fall Festival and wanted to use it to make pumpkin pie.  I figured it was a good opportunity to teach her how we make food from foods we harvest, since we usually used canned pumpkin.

Unfortunately, I am a busy Mama.  I stopped by the grocery store and took a look at the recipe on the pumpkin puree can which listed EVAPORATED MILK in a recipe that also called for 1 1/2 cups of sugar.  When I got home, I searched on Allrecipes.com and found a recipe that called for SWEETEN CONDENSED MILK.  I didn't stop to even consider that I was using evaporated milk AND that the recipe didn't have ANY sugar in it....until the pie was 3/4 of the way cooked.  (#$&(#@#$&  REALLY?!  I was SUPER bummed because my daughter was so excited about the prospect of eating pumpkin pie that was made from her preschool pumpkin.  

To make matters worse, I overfilled the pie crust and spilled pie filling on the bottom of our stove top which caused the whole house to fill up with smoke.  At this point I'm pretty sure you're asking yourself why you read this crazy's cooking blog. :)

WELL.....I managed to save the day by dousing the pumpkin pie in homemade caramel sauce!  WHOOHOO!!!!!  

Salted Caramel Sauce:

1 cup white sugar

5 tablespoons butter

1/2 cup heavy cream

1 pinch of salt to taste

Place sugar in a heavy-bottomed saucepan set over medium-high heat.  Stir continuously until sugar begins to melt.  Continue stirring until the sugar melts completely, begins to darken and all the chunks are dissolved, about 10 minutes.  Stop stirring and continue to cook until the sugar begins to smoke and turns a dark shade of amber, 3 to 8 minutes.  Remove from heat and wait 30 seconds.

Whisk butter until melted and combine.  Slowly pour in cream, taking care because it can bubble over.  Sprinkle in salt and stir to combine.  Transfer to a jar and cool completely before refrigerating.

I was SO worried about making this caramel.  I've always had bad luck in making candy type products, but this caramel was AMAZING!!!!  It TOTALLY saved the day!  My daughter even said I make the "best pumpkin pie, EVER!"  To be fair, she is only three and hasn't had a lot to compare. :)  I am a bit older and have a lot to compare it to and can confidently tell you this sugar-less pumpkin pie ROCKED with this caramel sauce!  Lots of it!!!!