Heat the sugar in a medium heavy saucepan (do not use nonstick) over medium heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon. The sugar will form little clumps and then melt into a rich, thick brown amber colored sauce. Keep stirring so you don’t burn it. This takes about 8-10 minutes +/-.
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When the sugar is completely melted, immediately stir the butter into the sugar until it’s melted and combined. The mixture can splatter at this stage, so be sure to wear some mits or kitchen gloves. We find that we have to take it off the burner for a a second or two when it starts to splatter. If the mixture separates or becomes clumpy, remove it from the heat and stir vigorously until the mixture comes back together, which it will. This can take anywhere from 1-4 mintues. Then return it to the heat. This happens almost every time for us, so don’t worry if this happens to you!
Once you have a well combined butter-sugar mixture, cook over medium heat for one minute, undisturbed. (i.e. do not stir during this step - this can test your anxiety level, but it works, so don’t stir!)
Now, very slowly add the cream, stirring all the while. The mixture will bubble up quickly because the cream is cooler than the mixture. Once all of the cream is added, stop stirring and cook again, undisturbed, for one minute. The caramel will rise up in the pan as it cooks. This is okay as long as your pot is large enough!
Remove the caramel from the heat and stir in the salt.
The caramel will seem thin, but it thickens as it cools. Because we are making candy with it, we like it just a bit thicker, so we return it to low heat and continue to cook for another 5-10 minutes, stirring occasionally, until slightly thicker and reduced in volume. Set aside to cool to room temperature before spooning it over the toasted pecans when making the turtles.