HOMEMADE DULCE DE LECHE
www.RecipeGirl.com
1 can sweetened condensed milk (any size)
boiling water
1. Preheat oven to 425 degrees F.
2. Open up the can and pour the sweetened-condensed milk into a pie pan. Cover tightly with foil. Place into a larger pan and pour boiling water in larger pan & around pie plate (level of water should be about halfway up the pie plate). Don’t let any water seep up and into the pie plate.
3. Place in oven and bake for 1 hour. At the one hour point, peel off foil and check for progress. If the mixture has thickened and turned a caramelly color, it’s done. If it doesn’t quite look thick enough or dark enough, cover it up and bake it a little longer (mine took 75 minutes).
4. When the mixture appears to have turned into a nice, thick caramel, remove from the oven. Let sit for a few minutes, and then beat with an electric mixer until smooth.
Cooking Tips:
*Store in a covered container until ready to use (within a few days). Probably storing in the refrigerator is best, but return to room temperature when ready for recipe.
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SO easy to do! It turned out perfect.
-San Diego, CA
12 Comments
Hi Recipe Girl! I tried making this last night. The problem I had was that a brown skin formed on top, which caused the rest of the condensed milk to not brown. I removed the skin and tried to bake it longer, but the skin kept forming, bubbling up, and then breaking into the cream beneath. Maybe it was because I used a thick ceramic pie plate and covered it with a top from a pot…I also used my roasting pan to put the entire thing in – maybe the sides were too tall? Any suggestions would be appreciated. Did you run into the skinning problem at all in making this?
Thanks!
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RecipeGirl Reply:
April 1st, 2009 at 11:02 AM
Julia,
I didn’t have any trouble with a skin forming on the top. I had my sweetened condensed milk in a ceramic pie plate and covered it tightly w/ foil. I’m guessing that the top from the pot didn’t create a tight enough seal and that’s why it formed a skin?? I also used a roasting pan… set the covered pie plate in there and then poured boiling water around it. Sorry you had trouble- I’d try it again using foil. At the end it comes out a little lumpy (as the pic shows) but when you beat it for a few minutes it becomes nice and smooth. Good luck!
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Thanks for writing back. The cream at the bottom underneath the skin was definitely usable and very delicious. I am going to try it again tonight and this time use foil. I think you may be right in that the seal needs to be very tight in order to keep the moisture in. The condensation might keep that skin from forming.
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Your recipe is absolutely wonderful. I love the ease of cooking the milk in the oven. Mine came out just perfect. Thank you for a great and easy way to make dulce de leche
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Definitly it’s a lot safer than using the pressure pan.
I normally buy ready to use from Nestlé. It’s really good.
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Hey Lori
I too had a skin form on top of my pan, but the rest of the milk was clearly cooked and had turned quite brown. After whipping it for about 5 minutes, it blended together rather nicely. It is indeed very delicious, and has a more of a caramel flavor as opposed to the canned version.
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I can’t wait to try this!! I could eat this without adornment…just a spoon is all I need and I’m good to go!
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another way to do it is just to place the unopened can of condensed milk in a pot, cover with water and let it boil for 2 hours… let the can cool completely before opening.
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Thanks for this recipe!! My grandmother taught me how my great-grandmother used to make this a long time ago by submerging a can of condensed milk in boiling water on the stove for 3 hours. Why 3 hours ? I never asked. (hey…she is a grandma right, I suspected she just knew.) I suspect it never really needed that long. However with the new pop top cans I became scared of how the pressure inside the can would hold up.
I am so excited about trying this recipe as it is a family x-mas tradition!!
Thanks
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Can you pour more than one can into a larger bowl and cook a bigger batch at one time?
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Lori Lange Reply:
January 6th, 2010 at 9:21 PM
Pam- I suppose that would work, but might be too much for a pie plate. I might rather use two pie plates with a can in each.
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My Argi Mother in law only ever cooks it by placing the whole tin of condensed milk(minus the label) in the pot of water to cook on a steady low heat. She adds lemon skin to the water – can’t recall why – something about the metal. She does many tins at a time, and then leaves them in the fridge until she has a baking session. Its devine. Saves on washing up too.
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I needed dulce de leche for an ice cream recipe, but only had sweetened condensed milk on-hand, so this recipe worked out great. I have found other recipes online, but none offered timing for baking. I prepared a double batch (2 cans) in the same pyrex pan, baking them for 90 minutes (checking at the 1 hour point).
Never having actually seen dulce de leche I didn’t know how thick it should be, but luckily it turned out fine. Thanks for your help!
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When I lived in Argentina, they used whole milk cooked in a large pot on the stove which was stirred almost constantly. As I recall, they put a pinch of baking soda in it, perhaps to keep it from curdling or maybe to help with color? It was basically an entire day event where the ladies would get together and stir the huge pot of milk for what seemed like all day. Then they’d put it in jars and give it out to friends and family. Making it from whole milk takes a long time since you are condensing it yourself, but makes a very pure, dark dulce de leche, which is very thick (not goey like your recipe). You don’t add any sugar – it’s just the milk and oh, so good! Homemade from milk works best for recipes which require the dulce de leche to stay put (like in alfajores). BTW, boiling a closed can is very dangerous as the internal pressure builds in the can will cause it to explode if you aren’t careful.
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