When making caramel sauce, the sugar can easily seize up and become lumpy, burn until it's bitter and acrid, or be undercooked, leaving it grainy. Luckily, corn syrup can help.

Cooking with sugar involves knowing when it turns from gritty and grainy to smooth and silky. When used instead of sugar, corn syrup acts as a stabilizer of sorts.

Corn syrup acts as an "interfering agent" in a caramel sauce, which stops the sugar molecules from joining back together after it melts, keeping the sauce from becoming grainy.

You only need a dash to make sure the sauce stays emulsified. Once it begins boiling, you'll know you've completely dissolved the crystal structure of the sugar.

Caramel syrup is delicious on ice cream and is perfect for an ice cream sundae. It is also great for dipping — serve it in a mini fondue pot for a delightfully interactive dessert.