Dulce de Leche
Recently, I’ve had Dulce de Leche (or Confiture de lait) in several different desserts… First the outstanding crepes at Novocento, which I’ve recreated here. Then Dulce de Leche Gelato in Rome. Lastly, Dulce de Leche wedding cake at a wedding we photographed this past weekend. Although I’ve never been one to eat Dulce de Leche, that really took the cake… pun intended.
Since I had no recipe for Dulce de Leche, I scoured the internet. 99% of the recipes called to *gasp* boil a can of Condensed Milk for a few hours! I don’t know about you, but the thought of boiling a can of condensed milk gives me nightmares of shrapnel and canned milk flying all over my kitchen in the likely event the can explodes. No thank you.
So I set out to find a recipe that uses milk and sugar, as they should be the main ingredients in Dulce de Leche. I did find several, but the amount of sugar called for was outrageous. Most recipes called for 1 liter of milk and 500 grams of sugar. In lay terms… that’s a shitload of sugar. So I used 2 liters of milk and 750 grams of sugar, and it turned out fabulous. It is extremely sweet, but that’s the nature of the sweet beast.
One HUGE warning though… make sure your temperature is not too high while it cooks. At one point, I walked away and the pot boiled over. Looking at the hardened blackened sugar, I thought I ruined my new stove. Glass top stoves do not take well to burning sugar. It took 45 minutes of scrubbing (and a tear or two while I cursed Dulce de Leche) to remove all the residue from my stove top. Luckily, with my beloved Bar Keepers Friend, I managed to remove all of the burned sugar. That stuff is the shizna.
Dulce de Leche (Confiture de lait) Recipe
1/2 gallon whole organic milk
26 1/2 oz sugar (by weight)
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp vanilla paste or extract
1. Combine milk, sugar and salt in a large pot. The pot needs to be big enough so it won’t boil over. I suggest you have at least 4 inches above the liquid. Bring to a boil,stirring often and lower the temperature to simmer.
2. Let simmer, stirring frequently, for about 3 to 3 1/2 hours until golden brown and thick. Mine took closer to 3 1/2 hours, but that might be because of my boil over incident. Stir in the vanilla paste at the very end.
Note: If you are using a vanilla bean, scrape and add at the beginning.
Note 2: If you’re not sure if the Dulce de Leche is thick enough, spoon a little bit onto a small plate and let cool completetly to check the texture. It should be very thick and glossy.
Makes about 3 cups
Dulce de Leche Crepes
1 Recipe Crepes
1-2 tbsp dulce de leche, per crepe
1. Prepare crepes according to the link above. Drizzle about 1-2 tbsp slightly warm dulce de leche in the center of the crepe and fold into desired shape.
Makes 8 crepes
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SO LUSCIOUS!!!
Oh wow, your pictures have me drooling!
I grew up making dulce de leche by boiling the can. Never had any problems but I will say it did not pour like yours. It had the consitency and the look of that cranberry sauce one buys in cans. But it was sssooooooo delicious. I don’t make it anymore cause I would just eat the whole thing. Yours looks elegant.
Oh the patience you have! Every time I’ve attempted to make dulce de leche from scratch I get too impatient and turn the heat up too high scorching the ever loving heck out of it. I’ll stick to boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk!
Ooh, bar-keeper’s friend works on glass stovetops? I’m having an issue with my stovetop right now, so thanks for the tip. Your dulce de leche looks beautiful– I had a dulce de leche ice cream from a Gourmet magazine recipe last year, and it was so good. I bet it would be fantastic with homemade dulce de leche.
Lovely photos! I also did a bit of dulce de leche research myself recently:
http://danamccauley.wordpress.com/2008/07/09/dulce-de-leche-a-secret-no-longer/
This looks just delicious! I also love the gorgeous images.
There is to me no such thing as a shit load of sugar…too much is all good. ;)
Hey - just wondering if you knew if this would work with soy milk or not? Thanks! Looks yummy either way!
Oh my, thank you SO much for this recipe! I’ve also been looking for a dulce de leche recipe from scratch. I don’t eat any refined sugar so the condensed milk was not an option. Do you know if this could also be made with soy milk?
We love dulce de leche here in Brazil and it’s pretty easy to buy it. Your crepes look and sound just what I want right now!
David Lebovitz has a recipe for making dulce de leche by baking the sweetened condensed milk in a water bath, after pouring it into a glass bowl. Check that out, it might come in handy for you.
amazing! purist dulce de leche. it looks incredible — what a great recipe!
There is a food blogger (I don’t remember who, but I’ll try to find it and post for you) who took a can of the sweetened condensed milk and opened it partially with a can opener and then boiled it for hours, adding water to the pan as needed so it goes mostly up the side of the cans. I’ve used this method and it works well (and no risk of exploding cans!).
Here we go (from Coconut and Lime): http://coconutlime.blogspot.com/2007/03/dulce-de-leche.html
I just bought a crepe pan and i can hardly wait to try this recipe (although I’m way too lazy to make my own dulce de leche). my mom brought me several jars of dulce de leche from Brazil when she visited — I think you can find it in some local shops too.
candance- you are killing me with those photos!
your blog is beautiful! pictures and recipes so inspiring..i will be back for sure!
Wow…your husband surely knows how to make your dessert justice. What a great pair!
Crepes and dulce de leche…now that’s another great pair! Yum!
So scared of boiling a can, too. It just sounds so wrong. Thanks for tips!
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I have been wanting to try dulce de leche but I have been unable to find it. Making your own sounds like fun.
Your dulce de leche came out perfect! And the pictures are absolutely amazing…
I bet it tastes even better!!
:)
A woman after my own heart…I fell in love with dulce de leche when I went to Argentina a few years ago. I am adding this to my recipe box.