Easy Dulce de Leche Recipe

Ok, so a while ago you saw a whole bunch of stuff on Pinterest made with dulce de leche, so you pinned your little heart out. Then you looked for dulce de leche recipes and pinned those to your 'I'm gonna do this one day' board. Yeah, we know how that goes... it should really be called 'the junk drawer of crap I will never, ever get around to.' 

Well, get ready to cross one off your list, ’cuz I have the easiest, tried and true, mess-free method of dulce de leche production ever, and it even uses Pinterest’s favorite kitchen appliance: the crockpot.

Ok, so I'm sure you came across a thousand other recipes involving a crockpot and the lusciousness that is de leche. Mine is just better. Don't ask me why, it just is. No exploding cans. No cooked in the can taste. No guesswork. Pure simple cookery at its best. Yup.

Ok, so now you're thinking ’just get to the recipe.’ Maybe you’ve already scrolled through this wordy foreplay and jumped straight into the pants of this post. {If you stayed for the foreplay, you are giggling right now. You’re welcome}

Here it is, without further hyperbole...

Crackpot Dulce de Leche

One 14oz canned of sweetened condensed milk. (Get a brand name, you cheapskate. Spend the extra nickel. Geeze.)

3 each 4 oz canning jars with new lids. Never use lids that were previously canned with. Just don't.

Kosher Salt, Sea Salt, or plain old table salt

Open the can. Pour the milk into the jars, leave about a half inch of space at the top. Sprinkle on a pinch of salt. Put the lid on tight. Put the jars in a crockpot. Put water in the crockpot to an inch over the tops of the jars. Turn the crockpot on low. Walk away. Come back in about 6-7 hours. Look at the jars. Is the contents the color of caramel? If yes, remove the aforementioned jars, let cool then refrigerate. If no, let them cook some more. Don't worry about burning the milk, it's a crockpot, silly. Just make sure the jars are always covered in water. If you like, you can switch to the ’high’ setting after about an hour on ’low.’ This will cut the time down to about 4 hours.  (You are more than welcome to use whatever size jar you like. Just be sure to keep it fully immersed in the water. Smaller jars just cook faster.)

That's it. Done. Once the milk has turned a lovely caramel shade, remove the jars from the water, let them cool at room temp, then store in the fridge. The cans will seal, but I would not technically call this a ’canned’ product with an indefinite shelf life. I've kept mine for over a month in the fridge, with no harm done. Chances are you'll be to busy spreading this on EVERYTHING for it to ever get too old to eat. 

The benefits of the jar method are too numerous to mention, but I'll try anyway:

1. Pre-portioned so even if you eat the entire jar all at one time, you still have 3 left for the next day.

2. You can actually see the color developIng. No guess work.

3. No exploding cans. Exploding cans suck.

4. Makes a lovely presentation for gift giving. I'm sure you've pinned a few ways of tying bakers twine to jars and stuff. (Snickering... like you would ever give this liquid gold away)

5. You won't cut your tongue on the jar when licking it clean. This can happen with a can, don't ask me how I know. I just know.

6. I like jars. Jars are pretty.

Have fun, enjoy the fruits of your labors, and don't forget to pin this post. You'll be glad you did.

(Oh, and be sure to check back for some upcoming posts of what you can do with your de leche. You may want to start a new board. Just sayin’.)