Opposite Reactions

Last night for dessert we tried a recipe for Caramel Dumplings (very good, but a little intense on the sweet) that should have been served with either whipped topping or ice cream, neither of which we had in the house. So I tried out the recipe on my box of powdered milk (only kept on hand for baking puposes) for whipped topping. That was awful. It tasted like really thick powdered milk with a little extra sugar. Ugh. I won't do that again. But we are planning on making some homemade ice cream today (cake batter flavor, at Steve's request) and I may try the dumplings again to go with that, maybe with a little less sugar. The dumplings cook in a mixture made of 2 tbsp butter, 1 1/2 cups brown sugar, and 1 1/2 cups water. Please let me know if you have any thoughts on slightly dampening the intensity of the sugar because that would make the recipe just perfect! I don't know if the recipe will still work properly if I just remove a 1/2 cup of sugar; it might not thicken into the caramel topping if I do that but, then again, maybe it will... Please, please, let me know what you think!