Nobody would accuse caramel sauce of being a health food, but it wouldn't hurt to lighten it up as long as you don't compromise flavor or texture. Swapping half-and-half for heavy cream may sound innocent enough, but the two differ in one important respect: fat content. Substituting ingredients in recipes that have only a few components can be risky; however, this is one ingredient swap you don't have to be afraid make.
Substituting Half-and-Half in Caramel Sauce
Heavy cream and half-and-half are on opposite ends of the cream spectrum when it comes to fat content, with heavy cream at 38 percent fat and half-and-half at only 12 percent. This disparity is problematic when making whipped cream, but not so much when making caramel sauce. You can swap an equal amount of half-and-half for the heavy cream in your caramel sauce recipe, and it will work out just fine. In fact, many recipes for caramel sauce call for half-and-half rather than heavy cream. The difference in texture, if any, will be discernible only by you.