Social distancing has us feeling a bit cooped up, especially in North Dakota, where the weather is less than ideal most of the time. We just got hit with a snow storm, making it hard to get outside, and without our trips to the library, stores, playtimes, and coffee, we’re really starting to miss our normal routines. But this has given me time to figure out how to make our favorite recipes at home. This copycat Starbucks salted cream cold foam cold brew drink is my husband’s new favorite, and we’re really loving it at home right now!
Once or twice a week, we would take a trip to Starbucks as a family and share a cold brew, such as this one, or the vanilla sweet cream cold brew (copycat recipe linked here). With both of us working on our business, we have been limiting our outings, but this was a great one we looked forward to. Unfortunately with this period of social distancing, we’ve been trying not go out, but I have perfected this copycat so it’s almost nostalgic. I hope you enjoy it too!
You could easily replace the caramel syrup with a store bought one if you have it at home, but since we didn’t, I gave it a shot. Surprisingly it’s not as difficult as it appears when you watch shows like Great British Baking Show, but it does require a bit of patience. Don’t rush the sugar melting because in the blink of an eye it can turn from golden brown to a burnt mess in your pan.
What you’ll love about this Copycat Starbucks Salted Cream Cold Foam recipe?
- It’s a great copycat. Save yourself a bunch of money on the drive-thru or mobile ordering, and just make it yourself. It tastes just like the real thing made right in your kitchen.
- It’s vegan friendly! Use a vegan cream for the cold foam and it’s now dairy-free. Beware, it will likely foam less and you probably won’t get such a clear separation when you add the foam to the coffee, but the flavor is just as good.
- You don’t have to leave your house. Especially for this period of COVID-19, staying home is essential. Get your favorite drink at home.
- Impress your friends. Once this is all over, invite your friends over for brunch and make them this. Who wouldn’t be impressed getting this without a trip to the coffee shop?
How to make this salted cream cold foam cold brew?
- You need to make the cold brew concentrate (or have purchased concentrate ready). Mix together 1/2 cup of grounds and 4 cups of water, or follow your cold brew directions if you have a maker. Allow this to sit for 16 hours steeping.
- Filter the grounds and place the concentrate in the fridge for up to 30 days.
- Make the caramel syrup. If you don’t already have a store-bought caramel, you’re in luck if you have sugar and water. Heat a medium sauce pan on the stove to medium heat (or slightly below).
- Add the sugar in a thin layer across the bottom of the pan and shake or stir as it starts to dissolve and turn golden brown. This will take some time so be patient. You don’t want to rush this process as it can burn the sugar.
- As it starts to dissolve (between 5-10 minutes), be sure to stir so it doesn’t burn to the bottom of the pan.
- Once it’s all dissolved (or mostly, you may have some clumping, especially if you were stirring), add the water. BE CAREFUL as it may spatter.
- Continue to heat for another 10 minutes or until all the clumps are dissolved. Remove from heat and store in an air tight container for up to a week (it may keep longer, but we’ve never had it last that long).
How to make the cold foam and assembly of the drink?
- With a mixer (stand, immersion blender, or hand mixer) with the whisk attachment, whip together the cream and the salt until a foam forms. If you use vegan cream or milk, don’t be surprised if the foam is pretty liquidy or doesn’t form. It’ll still taste great! You only need 1/4 cup of cream for each serving, and you’ll want to make the foam fresh each time you make this so only whip up what you need at the time.
- To assemble the drink, place 2 tablespoons of the caramel sauce at the bottom of a glass. Pour 1/3 cup of water and 2/3 cup of cold brew concentrate over it. Add about 1/2 cup of ice, and then layer the cold foam over the top. If you used a vegan cream or milk, it’ll likely mix right in instead of layering, but I promise it still tastes great! I drink mine vegan and my hubby uses dairy cream, both are good. 🙂 Enjoy!
Related Recipes
Copycat Starbucks Vanilla Sweet Cream Cold Brew
Copycat Caribou Iced Crafted Press Cold Brew
Copycat Starbucks Salted Cream Cold Foam
Ingredients
Caramel Syrup
- ½ cup sugar
- ½ cup water
Cold Foam
- 2 cups half and half (you can sub milk but it may not form a long lasting foam) or vegan cream
- pinch salt
Cold Brew Concentrate
- ½ cup coffee grounds
- 4 cups water
- ½ cup ice
Instructions
Make the Cold Brew
- The next morning (or after about 16 hours) filter the concentrate away and store in the fridge for up to 30 days.
Make the Caramel Syrup
- In a medium saucepan heat the sugar on medium-low to medium heat. Be patient, sugar burns easily! You want the sugar layer to be fairly thin across the pan so use one wide enough, or otherwise add it in parts (1/4 allow it to dissolve, then add another 1/4, etc).
- Allow the crystals to dissolve, they'll start to turn golden brown. This takes me about 5-10 minutes. Be sure to give your pan a shake or stir the sugar so it doesn't burn.
- As it dissolves completely add the water. IF you have clumps form, don't worry, they'll dissolve once you add the water. *** BE careful as it will spatter some (so keep those kiddos away from the stove now.)
- Let the water heat up in the pan, and then continue to stir as any clumps that formed continue to break down. In total this takes about 20 minutes, but it will vary based on your pan size and how well you got the clumps to break down right away.
- Once it's all dissolved (trust me, it'll dissolve, just be patient), remove from heat and place in an air tight container. It'll keep in the fridge for a week (probably more but we never let it last that long!)
Make the Salted Cream Cold Foam
- Only make up enough for what you plan to drink that day! ¼ cup is all that's needed per serving, so plan accordingly.
- With a hand mixer, immersion blender (with whisk attachment), or stand mixer, beat together the cream and salt until a thick foam forms.
Assembly
- Add 2 tablespoons of the caramel syrup.
- Pour ⅔ cup of the cold brew concentrate with ⅓ cup of water over the caramel syrup. If you use a cold brew system, follow their dilution instructions.
- Add about ½ cup of ice to the glass.
- Top with the cold foam.
- Stir it up and enjoy.
Nutrition
I hope you enjoyed this recipe! Let me know if you did in the comments below.
-Cassie
Pingback: Copycat Starbucks Iced Latte Caramel and Vanilla - Cass Clay Cooking
Pingback: Ultimate List of Starbucks Copycat Drinks - The Mad Mommy -
Pingback: Copycat Starbucks Irish Cream Cold Brew - Cass Clay Cooking
Pingback: Copycat Starbucks Iced Caramel Macchiato - Cass Clay Cooking
Hi there! How long do you typically whip the cream? I’m using half and half but I can’t seem to get it to thicken at all.
Hi Brittany,
Not sure what you are using to whip the half and half, but I use an immersion blender with the whisk attachment. I generally only do for about 30-60 seconds and it foams up, but it has a very high speed. It’s not going to form a whipped cream though, it gets slightly thick but will turn liquidy when you mix it into the coffee. It should stay separated on the top when you first pour it over the coffee.
I hope that this helps, and sorry for the delay in response. If you have any other questions I’d be happy to help.
Cassie
Hi! instead of brewing from the night before you can use normal cappuccino(double shot) that is shaken and then poured over a glass full of ice cubes.
For the foam, you can use a strong blender to mix ice cubes with full fat milk (I haven’t tried any non dairy milk) and mix them in high speed. If the milk is too liquid half shot of vodka can help – you can’t taste it and the alcohol is too low to affect you The coffee you can find in starbucks is a very common coffee in Greece (invented for the hot weather) and we don’t use cream.
Very interesting! Thanks for the feedback. 🙂 I don’t often have vodka on hand but I’d love to try it sometime.
Cold brew and salted cold foam is great, however the caramel syrup just made a hard mass at the bottom of the cup. Need to make the syrup more like a simple syrup that doesn’t harden like this one did, otherwise it was good!
Katie,
Thank you for your feedback, and I’m sorry you struggled to make the caramel syrup. Unfortunately to get the caramel flavor you really need to boil the sugar first to get it to caramelize and produce those iconic caramel flavors. If you had continued to boil once the mass had formed while stirring, it would have dissolved into the syrup after a few more minutes. When I made this recipe, I toyed around with a caramel simple syrup, but you basically have to boil it down till the water has vaporized and then dilute it again, so the same propblem happened but it took much longer.
For a simpler alternative, you can always make a vanilla (or other extract flavored – I have seen caramel before by vanilla extract) simple syrup by mixing together the water and sugar at the beginning, allow the sugar granules to dissolve, and then once removing from heat, adding the vanilla extract. Unless you find the caramel extract, you likely won’t get the exact same flavor profile. If you do a lot of coffee at home, you can also pick up caramel syrup from your local grocery store!
Thanks again for the feedback, and I hope you give it a try again.
Cassie
Pingback: 15 Easy Fall Cocktails To Make - Ottawa Mommy Club
I read a good deal of posts here. Probably you spend a lot of time writing,
Thanks for sharing!
Best regards
Thanks for the post. I will certainly visit again.
I’m obsessed. New morning routine includes this because it’s too good (plus it doesn’t cost $5 a day).
Pingback: 5-Ingredient Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Cream Cold Brew - Cass Clay Cooking