caramel attempt one

I was craving caramel apples last week so I looked up a few recipes. 101 cookbooks website had a delicious-looking recipe and this one on epicurious looked amazing. I compromised and used ingredients from both, although I can't quite remember the ratio. I added half&half, butter, brown sugar, honey, and salt. I had a heck of a time... the mixture looked really curdled after it came to a boil. I'm not sure if it's because I used half&half instead of heavy cream, brought it to a high temperature too quickly, or because I only made 1/2 cup of caramel sauce. Regardless, it looked gross when I took it off the heat but really came together after setting the pan on ice water and cooling while whisking. I ate it all. I'll keep working on this recipe because I think it'll be worth it once done just right :).