For the last couple of days I’ve felt like eating “dulce de leche” or milk candy, that is a sweet which tastes like toffee. Where I live at the moment I cannot find it, so I decided to make it myself.
This is a typical Argentinean spreadable sweet. In some countries “dulce de leche” ice cream is available. We use to spread it on toasts, to fill cakes, in desserts or to just eat it with a spoon.
Get ready to stir it for about an hour. It would be better to cook it when somebody else, that can help us is at home, so to stir a moment each (I made it when I was alone!). You can call your boyfriend, girlfriend, your husband or wife, or a friend to cook together.
Ingredients for 500gr/18oz
Milk 1 liter
Sugar 2 cups
Vanilla extract
Bicarbonate of soda 1 teaspoon
A wooden spoon
A nonstick saucepan
Put the milk in a nonstick recipient, I’d advise to use a deep one and not a pan because I had to pass part of the mix to a smaller saucepan, otherwise it would have spilled onto the cooker, and get it dirty.
Place the saucepan on the burner at low heat. Add the sugar gradually while mixing with the wooden spoon.
After mixing the sugar with the milk, join one vanilla extract spoonful. Once it started to boil, add the bicarbonate of soda. Actually I waited for about 20 minutes, it didn’t boil but made the typical froth of the boiling milk, so I added the bicarbonate.
Mix constantly with the wooden spoon, without stopping until the mix is brown and thicken as a marmalade. My burner heat is not too low, so from time to time I lifted it from the fire, mixing continuously. You have to be careful, if not it may burnt. Mix always.
Put a small quantity of “dulce de leche” in a small plate directly with the spoon. Wait until is cool and try if it has the desired consistency.
Once the mix is ready, turn the burner off and let it get cool. When it is tepid, you can pass it to a different recipient, I put it in a jar of Nutella. The mix was enough for 500 gr plus a small one, as those of baby’s food. Wait until it is cool before putting it in the fridge.
Tips to cook homemade “dulce de leche” or milk caramel
Use a nonstick saucepan
Use a wooden spoon
Stir it softly all the time, with a constant movement.
The milk must be cool. After it is cooked, let it cool in a different recipient before putting it in the fridge.
Eat within 7 days.
Cook and translate 
