Burnt Sugar Syrup

From Lost Recipes by Marion Cunningham

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/2 cup boiling water

Put the sugar in a skillet over medium heat and cook, stirring often, until the sugar has melted and turns a clear, rich brown. Slowly add the boiling water, stirring constantly. Continue to stir the syrup until it is smooth. It will be lumpy and sticky until stirring and cooking melts and smoothes the sugar. When the syrup is ready, pour it into a jar and set aside to cool.

My notes:
This does take a while, so be patient. Very carefully add the boiling water because it will bubble up a lot and spit a bit. Nothing hurts worse than molten sugar on bare flesh. When I made it, the syrup never got lumpy, but it turned out fine. I used a pickle jar to contain the syrup and that worked perfectly.