In Philadelphia, we have Capogiro‘s, a magical gelato store that will leave you penniless but happy. A certain someone has developed a minor obsession with their dulce de leche flavor, a wondrous vanilla with a thick swirl of caramel. I have yet to find a decent gelato recipe (readers: help!), and my ice cream production remains somewhat dicey, but I am pleased to report that I have at least figured out the secret to ducle de leche itself. And the good news is, it’s very, very easy.
1) Open a can of sweetened condensed milk (Trader Joe’s sells an organic version). Put it in a pie pan or large ramekin, sprinkle with kosher salt, and seal it tightly with aluminum foil. Put the baking dish in a water bath, like this:
2) Bake it in a 425°F oven for about 1 1/2 to 2 hours, until it’s a nice caramel color.
3) Eat. Wonderful on/in ice cream, bread pudding, cheesecake, or just about anything else.
That’s all there is to it. Amazing, no?
I’ll have to give this a try–dulce de leche’s a favorite here, too. Your recipe is marginally more complicated, but considerably safer, than the one I’ve used. I’ve just put the unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a large, heavy-lidded pot, covered with water, and boiled with the lid on for a couple of hours. Works great (let it cool before you open the can), if you can live with the threat of an exploding can…
Oh! Now that you mention it, I had heard of that technique! This does require that you clean a dish or two, but I can guarantee that nothing will explode.
Yum! I am excited about this!
I tried my hand at dulce de leche ice cream this weekend. Wow!! So yummy! I went with the safety version of the dulce de leche and was delighted with the results. I added blobs of it in the last few minutes of the mixing process and let it stir around. I also poured some of the warmed leche over the top of the “super vanilla custard” ice cream…it was a bit much, yes. I also served it with a little orange blossom biscotti.