My husband has a very sweet tooth… and he LOVES condensed milk and everything made with it. I must admit that I instead don’t usually like overly sweet desserts… but I have a weakness for anything caramel. A few years ago, in Palenque – Mexico, we had a fantastic dinner in a restaurant called La Selva and our dessert was a dish called Crepas de cajeta: crêpes with “cajeta”, which is the Mexican name for Dulce de Leche. We both loved it and never forgot about it! And here I am, finally making Dulce de Leche at home! It is the easiest recipe ever! In fact, it is not even a recipe per se… it has only 1 ingredient: sweetened condensed milk! There are a few methods to make Dulce de Leche at home. I chose the stove method as I liked the idea of having my final Dulce de Leche in its own tin and in the end it did look really cute! Just make sure the tins are covered at ALL TIMES with boiling water or they may explode! Other than that, you only need a little patience and in about 4 hours you will have your Dulce de Leche! I gifted this to some friends as part of a Christmas home-made goodie present!
Ingredient:
Canned sweetened condensed milk
Remove all the paper labels from the tins of condensed milk and place them in a big pot filled with water. Just make sure that the water is always at least 5 cm (2 inches) above the top of the tins.
Put the pot on the fire and bring to a boil, then lower the flame and simmer for 3 to 4 hours (adding boiling water if you have to). The longer you simmer it, the thicker the consistency of the final Dulce de Leche.
Then, remove the tins with some pincers (they will be very hot!) and let them cool down for 1 hour before opening. And there you have… your Dulce de Leche!
It can be enjoyed by itself or as a component of other sweets (you can make ice cream, use it as a caramel sauce, fill cookies or macarons, cakes or eat it on bread as a spread… anything you fancy!).
Oh my goodness!!!!!
I have a recipe that has Dulce de Leche in it. I looked at all the Spanish stores in my area and could not find it. Now, I can make my own! Thank you so much for sharing this with us. I will be shocked if this little gem does not make the top 9. I am gladly buzzing it!
You won´t find it at the spanish stores! You gotta find a store that sells Argentine goods and there for sure you will find dulce de leche. it´s what we, argentinians do best! 🙂
How I wish I could flick off that spoon and lick it clean 😉
This looks worth the time spent on making it.
Mu mom used to make this rich caramel sauce for a wonderful cookie; I got the leftovers in the can. YUM!
Mmmmmm. I make this often and I have to admit that my favorite thing to do with it is hide it in a jar in the back of the fridge and snag a spoonful every once in a while hehe
Love that gorgeous caramel ribbon, Manu. Beautifully styled! I turn to Duche de Leche for lazy Banoffee Pie. Lovely idea for a gift.
Lovely idea, and it does look very very delicious and tempting!!!
Dulce de Leche in “Peruvian” is Manjarblanco (white delicacy), it’s funny how in Spanish we call it in different ways.
Now, I have to admit that my favorite one is the one made with condensed milk, as yours, even the traditional is made with fresh milk and sugar, and in a very big copper pot you have to move, and to move, and to move with a wodden spoon until it is made. Ther is no way I will make one like this.
Love this! I’ve heard of making caramel like this before but have always been too scared that I would blow the top off the can to try it. This looks great!
My aunt used to make it from scratch with regular milk and sugar and it was amazing! This is a 21st century way! LOL! here, most cakes have a dulce de leche filling and that is one of the things I missed the most when I was living overseas.
I had no idea this is how to make dulce de leche. I am SO happy you posted this. Cannot wait to try it
I have one question: Do I just put the condensed milk can unopened in a pot of boiling water and cover the pot with its lid? I know this may cause you to repeat yourself but I really want to make some and want to do it the right way.
Hi Tia! Yes, just put the can unopened in a big pot and cover it with water. Make sure the can is AT ALL TIME submerged in water… you may have to add some water along the way. This will ensure that it does not explode. 🙂 You can also leave the pot without the lid… I put it on but left it partially open for some steam to come out. The key is not letting the water evaporate. Enjoy your Dulce de leche and let me know how you go! 🙂
Thank you so much! Will be making some this week and will link your post on my blog. I’ll definitely let you know how it goes. I really appreciate you taking the time to respond. Very helpful!
YEARS ago a guy I worked with that had a HUGE sweet tooth said that he use to boil cans of sweetened condensed milk in water for about an hour, refrigerate overnight and eat like pudding. Therefore, I am totally AMAZED by this recipe! It turns the light chocolate because you cook it for so long? My problem is that it would never make it into cookies or cakes – I’d eat it right out of the can. 🙂
I made this recipe a while back, and I’ve gotta say, it is easy and sweet. The thing is though, it’s much sweeter than home made or commercially prepared dulce de leche, which is creamier and richer.
I probably won’t make it again, especially as I just found a tiny packet (like you get of butter or jam in a hotel breakfast) in the bottom of my backpack I took to Argentina! Mmmmm…
OMG!! I am trying these ASAP.
YUM!!!! i love caramel too, and with crepes would be perfect 🙂
I can’t believe that this is such a piece of cake and from what you described at the end it will taste like a caramel sauce milk – totally yummy in my opinion. Thanks for that foody inspiration.
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I made it, too, but in a totally different way! Maybe I’ll post it, sooner or later 🙂
Oh my! I didn’t realize how easy it was to make dulce de leche at home! Thanks for sharing and of course of the step by step instructions. You may cooking look like a breeze.
Yum! I have always wanted to do this and you have shown me a fantastic method! Can’t wait to make this and eat it with salt sprinkled on top!
To just eat it from the can would be heavenly!
This is really the simplest and easiest to make a yummy sauce/toppings for any desserts! 😀
I made this, and it tastes fabulous, but it is very thick. Yours looks like it runs nice and smoothly off the spoon. How do I thin it without ruining it? Do I use water or milk?
Hi! I have never thinned it, so I am not sure. I would not add water… I think it may split. Try to smooth it out by whipping it with an electric beater. If that doesn’t work, maybe, add a spoonful of warm milk and keep whipping. Let me know! 🙂
Yourhusband is a lucky man! I adore dulce de leche, and just the consistency of yours makes me swoon!
oh my… it looks so decadently delecious. i had no idea its this easy!
I love it……you write beautifully and I look forward to viewing your entire blog…
Hi Manu, I’ve been reading your blogs and getting a lot of good advises on how to cook stuff. I’ve tried making something like this, but, apparently, the cream at the bottom of the can is not the same texture as the one on top. I used this as an icing for my chiffon cake. I was wondering on what to do with it to make the texture even. And how would I know if it is ready?
Hi! 🙂 Mine came out quite even… the bottom part was just slightly thicker and I just mixed it well to get it even. If your dulce was very different in texture, it may have something to do with the pot you used for cooking it. Make sure it has a very thick and heavy bottom, so the heat gets evenly distributed. Also, cook it on a low flame (it has to just simmer). I cooked mine for 4 hours, but you can cook it anywhere between 3 (if you need it thinner) to 5 or 6 (if you need it thicker). Let me know how it goes! 🙂
Hi because you are in Australia, if I have to do dulce de leche I use the one from ALDI (imported from Netherlands), Nestle etc they use to make it in Australia but I think all brands in 2014 are manufactured in obscure places sometimes, and I preferred the ALDI taste.
I only use condensed milk in extreme cases or when I am very short of time but nothing replace the real thing, it is only milk, sugar, vanilla and bicarbonate of soda, and 2 hours of your time, the video it is in spanish (well argentinian than it is spanish with italian flavour) but with your italian I am sure you can understand
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lvljIeotkAY
Today it is my first day in your blog and I love what I read so far but the more important sentence from you is ” I have always been amazed by the “distortions” in many Italian dishes.” and my reaction was to rei molto. You can extend the distortions to most cousine of the world in Australia and some are a joke.
And being near winter in Melbourne I am going back to the planing to make salumi (Coppa, Pancetta, Lardo, Speck, Cantimpalo, Kielbasa, etc) in the next few days. If you do not know the taste of cantimpano the best place in Sydney is http://www.rodriguezbros.com.au and I do not know any in Sydney doing polish cold smoked salumi like Kielbasa.
And been the day than it is forza azzurri.
Hi Manu,
first of all I would like to tell you that I like your blog a lot!! Today I found your Dulce De Leche recipe, but unfortunately in my country the do not sell condensed milk in tins… so could you please tell me another way to make it? Thanks a lot! Polona
Hi Polona!
Thanks so much for your comment! There are many different ways to make Dulce de Leche… look at this link: http://www.wikihow.com/Make-Dulce-De-Leche You can easily make Dulce de Leche on the stove using a pot. Let me know! 🙂
Hi Manu,
thank you so much for really quick response 🙂 I think I am going to try second method..will let you know, how it turned out 🙂