Monday, August 29, 2011

Dulce de Leche

   I feel so happy about being able to write this.


   I made homemade Dulce de Leche!




   I began to read about this caramel sauce as I read and browsed through blogs. It seems that it's popular in South America (correct me if I'm wrong) and there are several ways of doing it. Most methods seem to require the use of condensed milk. The thing is, in Malaysia we usually have sweetened creamer (which is made from palm oil) rather than the dairy type, and people say the latter is better for making Dulce de Leche.


   However, I came across a recipe in Joy of Baking (one of my favourite baking sites) that provides a recipe using regular milk, with several other ingredients. It seemed simple enough, so I bookmarked the recipe waited for a time when we'd have enough extra milk to make it.


   This morning, I made some Dulce de Leche as we all rushed to prepare for leaving home. I had just over an hour and the sauce required around 40 to 60 minutes of cooking time. I was a little apprehensive at first, and was afraid that I'd burn the whole thing, but I had to use the milk or it's go bad while we weren't at home.


   And lo and behold I did it! It wasn't so hard. Thankfully, I'd seen the video provided by Stephanie in the Joy of Baking, which is really helpful. I watched it many times before, which helped. It wasn't as fussy a process as I though it would be- even though it required me to stay by the pot, watching and stirring the sauce constantly, I was still able to clear up the mess in the kitchen, wash the dishes etc. I just made sure to check the sauce every 30 seconds to 1 minutes. I managed to burn the bottom a little bit by the end of the cooking time because I forgot to turn down the heat, but it didn't do too much damage and I just strained the sauce before pouring it into a container. I can't wait to find some use for it when we get home!


   You can read the original recipe here. Watch the video- it's really interesting!


   These are the ingredients I used:


   1 litre/4 cups fresh milk
   3/4 cup (150g) caster sugar
   2 tablespoons golden syrup (in place of corn syrup)
   1/2 teaspoon baking soda
   1/8 teaspoon fine salt


   This is what I did:


   Stirred together all the ingredients on low heat, increasing the heat to medium and lowering it again when I found it necessary. It took around 1 hour to achieve the nice, caramel colour. Probably would have taken less time if I'd bring the mixture to boil more quickly. But it worked anyway.


10 minutes into cooking

30 minutes (I think) into cooking

Hah! You can see bits of the burnt caramel.
Hakuna matata. Just strain the sauce and you'll be fine.
   I didn't quite believe it when Stephanie said she could simply lick the dulce de leche of a spoon. Well... I ended up cleaning up the leftovers in the pot. Delicious!


   Another goal in baking/cooking achieved. What's next?


   I'm beginning to develop a philosophy in baking- you needn't be afraid of making something that you want to make! Don't be afraid. Go ahead and try that recipe that you've eyed for a long, long time. If it doesn't work out, well then try again. I should tell myself this many, many times. For this particular recipe, it worked.


   The dulce de leche can be kept in the refrigerator for up to a month.


I love the beautiful brownish-golden colour.
What should I do with this?
Any suggestions?


   I enjoyed entering the three blogging events for August, so I think I'll be brave and enter more events when I get the chance. I'm entering this for Jac's September Bookmarked Recipes, but I'll provide the links later. For now I need to sleep!


   p.s. We reached Kedah safely at around 7pm. Today was the last day of Ramadhan. Tomorrow is the day of Eidul Fitr. Selamat Hari Raya/Happy Eidul Fitr to all Muslims!


   p.s.2 Ooppss! I forgot to include the Bookmarked Recipes event logo. Here it is:



   The event is hosted monthly by Jac of Tinned Tomatoes, and was originally created by Ruth from Ruth's Kitchen Experiments. Do take a look at the September round-up, and don't forget to join the next round-up for October! 

13 comments:

  1. I can imagine licking the spoon and the pot too. I willhae to have a go at making some myself oneday.

    Eid Mabarak to you and all your Muslim readers.
    Kindest and warmest of wishes

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  2. Eid Mubarak!! This recipe looks fab and totally simple. For some reason, I think your version will be less sweeter (which is what I like)than the traditional condensed milk version. Yum! :)

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  3. Shaheen: Yes you should definitely try making it! Tq very much for your warm wishes, we had a good time meeting our family members from all over Malaysia :)

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  4. Curious Cook: Eid Mubarak! It is quite simple, but it still spooked me out a little. I've never tasted the version made using condensed milk, but I imagine it'd be a lot sweeter. This one was just right. Next time I plan to try using brown sugar!

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  5. ooh, I've never made dulce de leche from scratch - it's come out really well!
    What will you use it for?

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  6. CC- It's still in the refrigerator. So far I've only dabbed some cookies... as well as simply licking them off a spoon, hehe. I don't know yet- am currently looking for recipes. Do you know good ones?

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  7. Aslmkm Sumaiyah. TQ for dropping by at my blog. My family loves DDL too bt I made thru a quicker method.

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  8. Just to answer your queston, check this link:
    http://homekreation-recipes.blogspot.com/2009/04/butter-prawn.html

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  9. HomeKreation a.k.a. Along: Thanks for returning the visit! Yes I read your posts on DDL and they look better than mine- such a dark colour. I don't know what to to with my DDL except to lick them off a spoon:p

    And thank you very much for the recipe! You emailed me, left a link here as well as answering my Q through the chatbox. Tq so much, may Allah bless you sebab banyak share ilmu;)

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  10. This is so much cooler than making it from a can. Great way to use of milk in a situation like this, too!

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  11. Kaitlin: Oh wow, I didn't expect to get a visit from you, thank you! It was kinda cool, though I wish I could have documented the whole process better :)

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  12. I love this post because I love condensed milk but recently tried soy condensed milk and was horrified at all the additives so wonder if this could be made with soy!

    As for ideas - I feel like there are so many good things to do with it (I never heard the term dulce de leche til I was blogging but grew up with caramelised condensed milk) - great in a tart - my mum makes one with cream and bananas on top, I have also tried it as a filling for a sponge cake with a layer of cream as well - and I have seen it in brownies which I really want to try.

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  13. Oh, I've never heard of soy condensed milk before! I think you could try making this with soy, it's a lovely idea and I'd love to know how it turns out!

    Yes, I dolloped this in brownies, and they were really good, and I think the tart with bananas + cream + dulce de leche is called banoffee pie? Thanks for your suggestions!

    I think this is better than condensed milk because the caramel flavour takes away some of the sweetness and replaces it with a nice, toffee-like taste. Thanks for your lovely comment!

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