Latin-American Milk Caramel (Dulce de Leche)
Dulce de leche is more than just a caramel. Made with purely with milk and sugar, this caramelised Latin-American gem boasts immense toffee flavour.
Dulce de leche has been a traditional way of preserving milk for centuries, especially in hotter climates where cheese-making was a challenge. Milk would be combined with sugar and simmered for hours, stirring often, until the milk is condensed and the added sugars caramelise and brown. The resulting caramel is thick, jewellescent and offers unfathomable depths of toffee flavour. Unlike a water-sugar caramel, milk-caramel sets the stage for incredibly complex flavour reactions to happen as it cooks. Since the advent of canned condensed milk, many Latin-American cooks rejoiced as they could now produce dulce de leche in half the usual time. There’s still a case for the old-fashioned from-scratch method: some Latin cooks will make ‘cajeta’ which is a dulce de leche made from goats’ milk.’ This method uses a slow-cooker and canned condensed milk. A slow cooker is a safe, hand-off method, though you could use a saucepan on a hob. The key here is a long cooking time - you can’t rush it. Unlike most dulce de leche you buy, this will be the proper stuff: a thick, stiff, dark confection. Use dulce de leche like a caramel, adding it to oatmeal or pancakes, as a cake filling or whisked into hot milk. It’s often used to make alfajores cookies - two shortbread biscuits sandwiching a blob of dulce de leche and rolled in shredded coconut. All I can recommend is you make a few cans of this in one go - you will be glad of it later. Let’s go!
INGREDIENTS
1x 400g can condensed milk
WALKTHROUGH
First, lets set up the water bath. Place your can/s of condensed milk into a saucepan or slow cooker pot. Ensure there is at least 1-inch gap between the cans if cooking multiple cans. Fill the pot with water until the cans are covered by at least 1-inch of water. You don’t need to remove the labels from the cans.
Now let’s caramelise. Place the slow cooker onto the ‘high’ setting, and cover the crock with a lid. Allow the cans to cook on ‘high’ for 8 hours, or cool on ‘low’ for 11 hours. If using the hob method, place the saucepan onto a medium heat. Once the pan is steaming hot, reduce the heat to the lowest setting and simmer for at least 7 hours. Do not allow the saucepan to boil as the cans could explode.
Once the cans are cooked, allow them to cool to room temperature. Don’t worry if the cans are bulging, or they have acquired some rust around the edges, this is normal. Once cool to handle, you can remove any labels from the can and dry well to prevent further rust. The dulce de leche can be opened once cool to touch. It will be fairly firm, but transfer it to a mixing bowl and beat it well to loosen it. Transfer the dulce de leche to a jar and store it in the fridge for up to 10 days. You may also keep it in its unopened can and store in the cupboard for up to 6 months - just label it with a marker!
