Dulce de Leche Casero
(Homemade Sweet Milk - Cajeta)
Dulce de leche, which literally means "candy made from milk," is a very thick and sugary caramel-like sauce that's made by slowly heating sweet milk. This confection is found in desserts like cakes, cookies and flan.
This is the classic recipe for this Mexican confection. This can also be made from canned sweetened condensed milk by caramelizing it. The instructions are here.
Yield: about 1 1/4 cups
Ingredients
- 4 cups milk
- 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
Instructions
- Put milk into a large, deep, heavy saucepan over medium high heat. Bring to a boil and allow skin to form on top of milk. Do not stir. Skin will thicken and puff up; then reduce heat to medium and remove skin.
- Increase heat to medium high and repeat process three more times. The skin will become thinner with each boil. Resist the urge to stir milk.
- Add sugar and vanilla extract after fourth and final boil, then stir until sugar has melted, about 2 minutes.
- Reduce heat to medium low and stir in baking soda. Simmer milk, stirring often, taking care not to disturb the film of cooked milk forming on the inside of the saucepan. Simmer, skimming foam while milk cooks, until reduced by half, about 1 hour.
- Reduce heat to low and simmer, skimming occasionally, until milk is very thick and golden, about 3 1/2 hours more. Mixture will brown as it cooks.
- Strain cooked milk through a sieve into a bowl, then cover and refrigerate. Mixture will thicken as it cools.
- Serve with fruit, such as strawberries or bananas, or with toast, if you like.
Attribution
Photo credit: katknits/2943820147 / CC BY
