Making Dulce De Leche at Home

There are a few things that I would like to make with dulce de leche. There's cupcakes with a dulce de leche buttercream, or there's brownies with dollops of dulce de leche, or just having some apple slices with dulce de leche is enough for me to want to buy some! Dulce de leche can be (pretty) easily found at most of the larger grocery stores here in Copenhagen but knowing that it is really easy to make yourself, I have only bought a jar of this wonderful stuff once. If you love anything caramel, you will love dulce de leche.

Dulce de Leche (recipe adapted from David Lebovitz)

1 can sweetened condensed milk

pinch of sea salt

Preheat oven to 425F or 220C.

Pour the can of sweetened condensed milk into a shallow baking dish. Stir in a pinch of sea salt.

Place the baking dish into a larger pan and pour hot water into the pan until it reaches halfway up the side of the baking dish. 

Cover the baking dish snuggly with aluminum foil. Bake for at least an hour, and until you reach the amount of caramelization you are looking for. In the recipe, David recommends keeping it in the oven for an hour and 15 minutes, but I found that the dulce de leche was not caramelized enough for me so I kept it in for 2 hours. Also check every half hour or so to make sure that there is enough water in the pan! 

Once the dulce de leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove it from the oven and let it cool slightly. The dulce de leche might come out slightly lumpy so whisk until smooth. 

Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a water bath or in the microwave before using. 

I have a feeling that brownies with dulce de leche will be happening sometime later this week!