Homemade Dulce de Leche

With our Dulce de Leche recipe you can easily make this sweet delicacy at home. You don’t have to buy industrial cans in the supermarket and spoil your friends and family with this milk caramel. Go ahead and try, you won’t regret it.

What is Dulce de leche?

What I never knew was that one of my favourite sweet sauces, Dulce de Leche originates from Latin America. Dulce de leche (Spanish for ” candy made from milk “), arequipe, or manjar (blanco) is a cream made from milk, sugar, and vanilla and is a common spread in Latin America.

Dulce de leche is used as a spread on bread and as an ingredient in the preparation of desserts such as pudding, flan or ice cream. It is also often used as a filling for cakes, for example in the torta de mil hojas (thousand-leaf cake) or Cuatro Leches Cake (added on Tres Leches Cake (Milk Cake). Alfajores, which are common in Latin America, are often filled with dulce de leche.

Insider tip for cleaning up

You can get rid of burnt-on residue from boiled milk with a thick paste of baking soda and a little water. Apply the paste to the spots, heat the pot and leave it on for 1 hour. After that, you can just lift the crust off.

Tip for the cooking process

• During the first hour you do not have to do anything – no checking and no stirring. The next ½ an hour keep a close eye on the sauce and stir every now and again.
• For the last ½ an hour stirr almost constantly to prevent the sauce from sticking to the pan. For the consistency that you see in the photos stop when the sauce was still quite runny in the pan (100° C on a sugar thermometer). It firms up once it has cooled down.

How to store the caramellised milk?

It is best to store your Dulce de leche in jars or boxes. You can simply take out a spoonful as much as is needed for your recipes. Will keep in the fridge for over a month. It may need to be warmed up slightly to soften before use.

Also try Homemade sweet Almond Paste, Quick & Easy Chocolate Coconut Mousse or Homemade Dark Chocolate Ice Cream.