Homemade Dulce de Leche Recipe - Oh Sweet Basil (2024)

FAQs

What two basic ingredients does dulce de leche contain? ›

Unlike caramel sauce, which is made by browning sugar and then adding cream and butter, dulce de leche is made by gently simmering milk and sugar together for over an hour until it's thickened and golden (swap out the cow's milk for goat's milk and you have cajeta).

Caramel and dulce de leche might look and taste somewhat similar, but they are actually pretty different. While caramel is made from slowly simmering water and sugar until it caramelizes, dulce de leche is made from simmering milk and sugar super slowly until it turns into a creamy, caramelized substance.

“The difference between condensed milk and dulce de leche is the caramelization of the sugars that are both added and part of milk,” Sibley says. “Typically, condensed milk remains white and has a lighter consistency and taste than dulce de leche.

You can make dulce de leche by cooking down milk and sugar in the stove top, with the addition of baking soda to help the reactions that occur in order to form a thick and rich dulce de leche. The results: A dark sauce, slightly gritty, thick but not pipeable. The taste: a mix between caramel and dulce de leche.

Technically, if you see dulce de leche in a recipe, you can instead use caramel, and vice-versa. However, there will be a slight variance in taste and texture, and the recipe will no longer be authentic to the specified region.

Dulce de leche in South America

In Venezuela, the distinction between “dulce de leche” and “arequipe” is due to its preparation: the first based on milk and sugar, the second, based on condensed milk brought to the boil.

La Lechera Dulce de Leche Manjar (sweet milk delicacy) adds a caramelized version of classic La Lechera condensed milk. It's a beautiful thing, creamy liquid sweetness that mixes with milk or coffee and tops pancakes, ice cream, fresh fruit and pastries. Dulce contains only milk and sugar and a preservative.

Spanish dulce de leche and Portuguese doce de leite mean "sweet [made] of milk". Other names in Spanish include manjar ("delicacy"), arequipe and leche quemada ("burnt milk", a term popular in Mexico); also in Mexico and some Central American countries dulce de leche made with goat's milk is called 'cajeta'.

Pro Tips for this recipe

Your dulce de leche will last about two weeks in the fridge if kept in a sealed container or three months if left in the unopened can. If you're employing the boiling method it's better to use the cans that do not have tab openers although I have not had an issue with them personally.

Delivering the same rich and authentic taste as the original version, it yields the same as a can of regular sweetened condensed milk in many desserts and only requires slight adjustments in others.

Is evaporated milk the same as dulce de leche? ›

Sweetened condensed milk has sugar in it whereas evaporated milk does not. The process of turning sweetened condensed milk into dulce de leche is simply to extract the water from the milk leaving behind the fat and sugar to caramelize.

Tip: To thicken stovetop dulce de leche, make a slurry of 1/2 tablespoon cornstarch with 1 1/4 teaspoons milk. Bring it to a very slow boil over medium heat, whisk this slurry into the dulce de leche, and continue to boil slowly for five minutes before removing from heat and cooling.

Time: it takes even up to 4 hours baking the sweetened condensed milk in the oven to obtain dulce de leche. Thickness: in order to obtain a really thick dulce de leche, you have to bake it for a really long time. However, the longer you bake it, the more scorched it gets.

Note: There are several stages the milk goes through during the cooking process. When the milk first comes to a boil there is a lot of foam. Eventually the foam subsides and after about 15 minutes, you will notice that the milk turns a light beige color.

The longer you cook, the thicker and darker the dulce de leche will be. For a light and runny dulce de leche, cook for 2.5 hours, for a dulce de leche that is easy to pipe and holds its shape, cook for 3.5 to 4 hours.

Dulce de leche cake is usually a vanilla cake with a frosting and or filling that incorporates dulce de leche. This cake has a browned butter batter and the layers are enrobed in a dulce de leche frosting.

97.2% Caramelised Sweetened Condensed Milk (Milk, Sugar), Stabiliser: Disodium Phosphate.

Dulce de leche, meanwhile, is made by heating sweet milk until it becomes a thick, rich sauce. It's often made in home kitchens using sweetened condensed milk. Unlike caramel, which is heated quickly at high heat, dulce de leche is heated low and slow.