Heat on medium. The sugar water will start to boil.
Don’t stir. Just pick up the sauce pan and swish around the sugar if needed.
Watch the sugar mixture closely! After it boils for about 6-8 minutes, it will start to get slightly darker and smell like caramel.
Boil for about 10-20 more seconds to let it turn a medium brown color (this color change will be slight when using vegan unbleached sugar).
Remove from heat and immediately add coconut oil.
Stir with a metal whisk for a few seconds.
Add the soy milk (It will bubble up and may spatter, so be careful)!
Add salt if you want salted caramel
Continue to stir until smooth and everything is well mixed.
Allow to cool a little before drizzling over ice-cream or dipping.
Notes
It will get very firm in the fridge, just heat the caramel slightly to get a smooth perfect consistency again.
Have the coconut oil and soy milk measured and waiting to pour into the sugar mixture the second it caramelizes. Adding the oil and milk reduces the temperature and keeps it from burning. It the few seconds that it would take you to find and measure the oil and soy milk, your sugar will burn!
When using vegan sugar, it is already slightly brown, so you will not see a big color change. Go by smell more than color. ( It will start to smell like caramel or even slightly burnt sugar).
Add the oil first, give it a little stir with a whisk and then add the milk. This will cool it down a little and it wont spatter as much once you add the soy milk.
When you do add the milk, it will still bubble up and my spatter a little, so use a long-handled whisk to stir and stand back. (Make sure children are back and out of your way)!
If your sauce is too runny you can heat it again on low for about 30-60 seconds to evaporate some liquid out of it and firm it up. (But don't let it burn)!