Homemade Dulce de Leche

Dulce de Leche is a South American caramel confection. It’s made by cooking sweetened condensed milk until the sugar is caramelized and the milk is thickened and brownish in color. I remember my Mom boiling an unopened can of condensed milk for what seemed like hours on the stove. Of course we all grew up hearing the horror stories and dire warnings of how you should be careful because the can could explode, but none of that ever seemed to matter. What was most important was getting a taste of that sweet, thick, and sticky treat. I remember how awfully hard it was to wait for it to be ready, and even harder to wait for it to cool! But you had to let it cool before you could open the can or the dulce would spurt out and could burn you. We would eat it by the teaspoonful, carefully eking it out and eating it ever so slowly to make it last as long as possible because Mom would never let us have more than 2 little spoonfuls of it in one day.

There are many different ways to make your own dulce de leche at home. You could do like my Mom always did and boil an unopened can of condensed milk on the stove for 2 or 3 hours. You could bake an unopened can in a water bath in the oven; or cook a can in a pressure cooker; or cook it in a slow cooker; or open a can, empty the milk into a pot and cook the milk over the stove, stirring till your arm falls off (don’t ask me how I know). Why, I’ve heard you could even make it in a microwave!

My favorite method is super easy and doesn’t involve any risk of explosion or having your arm fall off. Give it a try and you’ll see what I mean.

HOMEMADE DULCE DE LECHE

1. Empty 1 can of sweetened condensed milk into a glass pie plate.
   
2. Cover pie plate tightly with foil.
   
3. Make a water bath by placing a pan larger than the pie plate into the oven and filling it with enough water to go 3/4 up the side of the pie plate.
4. Place pie plate in center of water bath and bake at 400ºF for 1½ hours or so, adding water as needed. The longer you cook it, the darker the caramel gets.
   
5. Remove foil. The edges are usually more cooked than the center so take a wire whisk and whisk everything together until it’s well-combined and smooth.
   
6. Pour into a clean jar and allow to cool before using.
7. Store dulce de leche in the refrigerator for up to 3 weeks.

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Coffee Cream Sauce

I created this sauce to serve with my Coffee Panna Cotta but it could be used as a sauce for ice cream, chocolate soufflé, pound cake, or anything else you might want to serve with a dessert sauce. The important thing to remember when making this is to keep stirring while it cooks so it doesn’t burn.

COFFEE CREAM SAUCE

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 7 ozs. (half a can) condensed milk (this is about 3/4 cup + 2 Tbsp.)
• 1 Tbsp. cornstarch dissolved in 2 Tbsp. water
• 1 Tbsp. instant espresso or coffee granules
• 2 Tbsp. butter or margarine

1. Place all ingredients except the butter into a small saucepan.
2. Cook over medium-low heat, stirring continuously with a wire whisk, until mixture thickens and begins to boil. Let it boil for a minute or two while stirring constantly.
3. Remove from heat, drop in the butter, and stir until butter is fully incorporated.
4. Cool completely before serving.

NOTE:

• You can store this sauce for up to a week in the refrigerator but it will thicken a little when it’s chilled. If you find it too thick, stir in a little cream or milk to thin it to the pourable consistency you want.
• Substitute half-and-half or whole milk for the whipping cream if you prefer a sauce that’s a little less rich.