Monday, October 12, 2009

Dulce de Leche

Yum! Who doesn't love dulce de leche?

I was reading through some of my favorite blogs, when I opened The Cooking Photographer. Laura had a recipe for Dulce de Leche Apple Pie!

OMG DROOL right????

In her instructions for the pie, she also gives directions on how to make the Dulce de Leche yourself, from Sweetened Condensed Milk.

All you have to do is boil the cans, labels removed, for 4 hours.

That's it!

It's nearly impossible for me to keep any kind of caramel-like foods in the house, since they are consumed almost as soon as I bring them home.

I decided this was worth a try.

Now if I'm cooking anything for 4 hours, I'm definitely making more than one!

So I pulled 4 cans of Sweetened Condensed Milk from the pantry. (that's definitely a staple item for me)

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Removed the labels.
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And placed them in a stock pot.
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Filled with water... about two inches above the top of the cans.
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That's about 2 knuckles deep. Obviously don't stick your finger in there after it's hot!

Boil for four hours.
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Be sure to keep checking the pot.

The cans need to stay submerged.

As the water evaporates, boil a teapot full of water to replace the evaporated water.

Again, be sure the tops of the cans are always covered with water.

Let them cool completely before opening them.

That's it.

Dulce de Leche made at home!
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Nice snack for the kidlets
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Or how about on top of ice cream?

Or maybe inside Stuffed French Toast?

This is soooo yummy!!! You'll want to just eat it out of the can. (no one's watching... go ahead... have a big spoonful!)

This Dulce de Leche is very very thick. While doing a little browsing around the interwebs for more info on this method, I found a couple of people who boil for about 2 hours for a thinner Dulce de Leche.

The 4 hour batch I made can be thinned out by popping it into the microwave for 30 seconds or so. But it does thicken back up again after a bit.

I think I'll try a 2 to 3 hour batch (two cans... removing one after 2 hours and one after 3 hours) to see if I end up with a thinner end result.

Oh and Laura's Dulce de Leche Apple Pie?

Stay tuned... that's up next!

13 comments:

Ciao Chow Linda said...

I still haven't tried that recipe but I was drooling when I saw that apple pie with dulce de leche. Your experiment turned out great too.

test it comm said...

I have been wanting to try making Dulce de Leche for a while now. That apple pie does sound really good.

Cathy said...

I remember doing this as a kid with my mom - it was always such a treat. And like your house, I can't keep caramel in mine either. Hubby is all for chocolate but me....give me a bowl with a sliced banana and caramel sauce any day for dessert :)

Peter M said...

That's it...I'm making Dulce de leche. who doesn't like this dreamy, creamy stuff?

Dajana said...

LOOOOOVE it!
I still need to try making it myself. Must be gorgeous with apples.

Cookiebaker said...

I want to go to the apple orchard next weekend and I'm thinking I'll also need to stop by the store and get some condensed milk so I can make this. I love caramel!

Anonymous said...

OMG, I've been waiting for you to post this FOREVER! (ok, really only what, a week? LOL) Can't wait to see the pie! Ooooh, and I'll be trying this fo sho! Yippie!

Jennifer said...

Holy shit, I had no idea it was that easy, thanks for sharing!

NKP said...

I have heard of this method - I am so glad you gave it a try!

The Cooking Photographer said...

This is so neat to see you make Dulce de Leche Spryte! If you want a thinner sauce 3 hours is typical like you found, even 2 1/2 might be better. I have a thing for thick caramel I guess.

Yay!

Laura

Michele said...

That looks great! You did an awesome job on the crimping!

Unknown said...

omg....seriously? thats it? YUM!!!

Bob said...

Awesome. Straight up awesome. I have to do that.