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Keto Butterscotch Candy

Candy with only four ingredients? Impossible. This keto butterscotch candy is delicious and brittle but will melt in your mouth!

Four Ingredient Keto Butterscotch Candy

WHAT IS BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY?

Traditional butterscotch candy is a type of sweet consisting primarily of brown sugar and butter. Like most modern candies, the mixture normally includes corn syrup.

Some variations also include vanilla extract, cream, molasses, and salt.

Hint: two of the four ingredients in this recipe are vanilla extract and salt.

Butterscotch is similar to toffee, but is not hardened to the same point toffee is. By adding cream to the mixture, you can even create a liquid butterscotch topping for ice creams and other sweets.

The term butterscotch is also often used more specifically of the flavor of brown sugar and butter together even if the actual confection butterscotch is not involved, such as in butterscotch pudding.

KETO BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY INGREDIENTS

In case the title of this recipe didn’t lend a clue, the number of ingredients needed to make this candy a reality is very short. In fact, you’ll need a whopping four ingredients. They are as follows:

That’s it! It really can’t get much simpler than that!

HOW TO MAKE KETO BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY

  1. Add butter to a heavy bottom saucepan and melt over medium heat
  2. After butter has melted, add the sweetener and stir constantly
  3. Bring the mixture a low boil and stir, stir, stir
  4. If the mixture reaches much more than a gradual boil, reduce heat
  5. Stir until mixture is a nice, dark amber brown color
  6. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt
  7. Let cool for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally
  8. Pour into an 8 x 8 glass storage container (or similar) and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours
  9. The mixture will harden, but be easy enough to break
  10. Break into pieces and savor!
Four Ingredient Keto Butterscotch Candy

STORING BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY

Storing keto butterscotch candy is incredibly easy. Below are some instructions on how to store it, along with a note about storage limits on this recipe.

SHORT-TERM STORAGE

Let’s begin by defining short-term as three days or less. In this case, if you are planning on having the candy around for three days or less, storage can be done in an air-tight container at room temperature.

If space allows, refrigerated storage is preferred as a safeguard. However, either one can be used when keeping the candy for this length of time.

Do keep in mind, the candy will not be as hard as it would be if refrigerated.

LONG-TERM STORAGE

We will define long-term storage as three to seven days. If storing your butterscotch candy for this amount of time, store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. This will ensure the candy will keep for several days without a problem.

STORAGE LIMIT

Even when refrigerating this keto butterscotch candy, it is best not to keep the candy for more than seven days (one week).

While storing it for longer periods is possible, it is best to be safe and discard any candy leftover at the end of this time frame.

If you find making the full recipe results in too much going to waste after a week, cutting the recipe in half will give the same taste result. You also won’t have as much to store!

IS BUTTERSCOTCH THE SAME THING AS CARAMEL?

In taste, they are similar, but in preparation they are different. What is the difference you may ask? Well, it’s pretty subtle.

The difference between the two is the sugar used to make them. Caramel is made with regular white sugar. Butterscotch, on the other hand, is made with brown sugar.

While that might not seem like a huge deal, the difference in the two sugars is enough to differentiate caramel and butterscotch.

Even in the world of low-carb and keto, we can still create two different flavors by utilizing different sweeteners. If you take a look at our Keto Caramel Sauce, you can see that it uses Lakanto Classic sweetener, while this keto butterscotch uses Lakanto Golden sweetener.

WHAT IF IT LOOKS GRAINY AFTER COOLING?

As mentioned above, a grainy appearance after the mixture cools is completely normal. The monk fruit sweetener recommended in the recipe will harden back into its original state and can lead to this appearance.

However, this does not change the taste of the candy. This grittiness will also not translate to the mouth when eating the candy. Instead, it will have a nice smooth “melt in your mouth” quality to it.

If you are going to use a sweetener of your choice, which we discuss below, you might not experience this same grainy/gritty appearance.

Four Ingredient Keto Butterscotch Candy

ADDING SALT TO THE TOP OF KETO BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY

If you’d like to add a nice element of salty to your sweet, lightly salt the top of the candy with kosher salt before it cools completely. This allows for the salt to not soak into the mixture, but remain at the top for taste.

You can use other salts, but kosher salt is best since it is larger pieces and will add not only a flavor profile but also a nice visual element as well.

Always remember, adding salt to a recipe isn’t simply adding salt… It’s all about bringing out the flavors the recipe intends!

SWEETENING THE BUTTERSCOTCH CANDY

As with almost all of our recipes that require sweetener, we recommend using monk fruit sweetener with this recipe. In fact, using Lakanto Golden Monk Fruit Sweetener is one of the best options, as it gives a nice brown sugar taste, all while being able to be heated and not change the taste.

There are, however, other sweetener options on the market. Most notably, there are several new brown sugar substitutes that show promise in keto recipes. The goal, of course, is to not spike blood sugar when eating them.

If there is a sweetener you prefer more than monk fruit, you are welcome to use it. Keep in mind, each of us is different and react differently to different sweeteners.

The other thing to keep in mind is that sweeteners that do not have a brown sugar quality about them may not result in the taste you are aiming for.

Each is made differently, but a brown sugar substitute is best when making this recipe.

CAN THIS CANDY BE USED IN OTHER SWEETS RECIPES?

The short answer is yes, of course. If you’d like to add this candy to a keto ice cream or use it in conjunction with other sweets recipes, please feel free to experiment!

If you run across a combination that is absolutely delicious, let us know in the comments below!

DOES THIS CANDY MAKE A GOOD DESSERT?

Of course, it does! Butterscotch candy is a delicious, sweet dessert for almost any main course.

Looking for some ideas of what to pair this candy with? Here are a few of our favorites:

If you’re still looking for some meal ideas, check out our recipe index and more of our main course recipes.

Another delicious idea is to drizzle warm butterscotch over sugar free marshmallows before it cools completely. Totally sweet and delicious!

Four Ingredient Keto Butterscotch Candy


Be sure to leave us a comment and a ★★★★★ review!
Keto Butterscotch Candy

Keto Butterscotch Candy

Yield: 16 servings
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Total Time: 20 minutes

Candy with only four ingredients? Impossible. This keto butterscotch candy is delicious and brittle but will melt in your mouth!

Instructions

  1. Add butter to a heavy bottom saucepan and melt over medium heat
  2. After butter has melted, add the sweetener and stir constantly
  3. Bring the mixture a low boil and stir, stir, stir
  4. If the mixture reaches much more than a gradual boil, reduce heat
  5. Stir until mixture is a nice, dark amber brown color
  6. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and salt
  7. Let cool for 3 minutes, stirring occasionally
  8. Pour into an 8 x 8 glass storage container (or similar) and refrigerate overnight, or for at least 8 hours
  9. The mixture will harden, but be easy enough to break
  10. Break into pieces and savor!

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Nutrition Information
Yield 16 Serving Size 1 piece
Amount Per Serving Calories 102Total Fat 12gCarbohydrates 0gProtein 0g

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AliT

Tuesday 30th of November 2021

Just tried this for the first time and it worked great! I just used regular monk fruit sweetener - after reading some of the reviews I did stir in a little bit of baking soda which kind of puffed it up a bit. Set it outside (winter in Canada eh) and within a half hour it was perfect consistency with no separation whatsoever. I think maybe if people haven’t made a lot of fudges and candy that require hard boil or soft boil stages they may struggle but as long as you’re stirring constantly it works out fantastic.

Kathleen

Sunday 24th of January 2021

Made this...and went ahead and put in about 1 tsp of baking soda and it was magic!!! Put it in the fridge for about 2 hours and it’s perfect! Crispy, and buttery. Tastes like it was made with sugar. I used monk fruit as well. This will be a staple for us as treats!

Yaz

Tuesday 27th of July 2021

@Kathleen, what does the baking soda do for this dessert?

Logan Childress

Saturday 3rd of April 2021

Kathleen,

So glad it all worked out for you and you enjoyed it!

Pam

Thursday 17th of December 2020

Wouldnt this work as the toffee base for English Toffee? Top hot candy with Liliy's chocolate chips. Wait. spread all over toffee. Sprinke sliced almonds on top....

Logan Childress

Thursday 31st of December 2020

Pam,

It would!

Debbie

Sunday 8th of November 2020

Thanks for sharing this recipe! It has made sticking to keto during self-isolation slightly easier. I have now made it twice and had better success the second time. My first attempt separated - but it was still delicious and that didn’t slow me down.

The second time I decreased the butter by 25%, boiled for a shorter amount of time (think brown sugar fudge colour) and lined my pan with parchment paper. Turned out perfect with these adjustments. Hopefully this might help some of you struggling.

Dee

Monday 29th of June 2020

If you leave the salt and vanilla out You can slow cook this to 300 f on a candy thermometer Then take off of stove and add 1 tsp baking soda. Candy will expand Like honey comb candy. Poor in parchment lined tray. Let cool Put in refrigerator until hard. Put in plastic bag and break it up. Pretty good Try it 2 sticks melted butter 1/2 cup Monkfruit manko sugar 1 tsp baking soda

Annie

Tuesday 6th of October 2020

@Dee, Hi Dee, I've been looking for a recipe like this... do you mean one cup of butter... is that 2 sticks? Thank you Also, does it get hard? I've been trying recipes all night, and they are more like a fudge consistancy.

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