By Jonniker
You want to impress the pants off of guests, friends or relatives with the most delicious caramel in all the land? That you (sort of) made with your own two hands? Alrighty, then! Let's go! VAMANOS!
What you need:
Yes, one can of sweetened condensed milk. Or however many you want. That's it. Well, except for a large pot and a stove. Now, what you do is take the label off the can (and even THIS is optional, for the label will just boil off and float in there), put the UNOPENED can in a large pot, cover completely with water and bring to a boil.
You must, under threat of actual, no-lie kitchen disaster, make sure the can is covered with water at all times. Yes, this means you will have to pour water in there from time to time. Set yourself an alarm every hour and make sure you check on it.
Failure to do so could result in unfortunate can explosion, and let me tell you, you have not seen a mess until you've seen sticky caramel sauce all OVER your kitchen, in places you never knew existed.
The boiling times vary depending on what kind of caramel sauce you desire, although the minimum is two hours.
Two hours = a rich, light caramel-colored, syrupy sauce to top ice cream, drizzle on cake or other desserts or eating with a spoon (what?)
Four hours = a solid, thick, custard-like texture appropriate for frosting cakes, cupcakes, or for filling chocolates, muffins or cupcakes. I've used it to frost a cheesecake and almost ate the whole thing in one sitting.
Trust me, your guests will be wowed, and your thighs will be larger. But it will all be worth it.
Weird. The kitchen shop I work at had dulce de leche cake last week in one of our classes and it was insanely awesome and I'm going to make it tonight before I even read this. GET OUT OF MY HEAD.
Posted by: KBO | October 04, 2010 at 10:35 AM
We used to make this for our sorority rush - we made caramel pies by boiling the heck out of these cans. They were so good -- I remember snarfing the leftovers down between rounds.
Posted by: Arina | October 04, 2010 at 11:18 AM
Genius. I have never heard of such a thing and now I must try it immediately.
Posted by: Life of a Doctor's Wife | October 04, 2010 at 11:37 AM
It sounds easy and delicious, but I'm not going to lie: I feel kind of stressed about the possibility of the can exploding!! Ahhhh!
Posted by: Rebecca (Bearca) | October 04, 2010 at 11:49 AM
When I make this, I can't keep myself from just eating it by the spoonful all day long. SO GOOD!
Posted by: Shoe Lush | October 04, 2010 at 11:53 AM
This is one of my FAVORITE tricks. So fancy seeming! And yet: from a can! Genius!
Posted by: pseudostoops | October 04, 2010 at 12:34 PM
I have ALWAYS wanted to make this but have been too scared of exploding cans. I have some sweetened condensed milk at home - I may try to make it tonight.
(BTW- I had the sweetened condensed milk to make this: http://tinyurl.com/28xfd83 -YUM!)
Posted by: kakaty | October 04, 2010 at 12:39 PM
Oh my goodness that sounds divine!
Posted by: Heather | October 04, 2010 at 01:10 PM
Making it as we speak... errr... write!
Posted by: Michelle | October 04, 2010 at 02:20 PM
That's awesome! I'm totally going to try it.
Posted by: Jessica | October 05, 2010 at 10:03 AM
Frosting a cheesecake? My mind cannot even comprehend such a remarkable, mouth-watering concept.
Posted by: Janssen | October 05, 2010 at 12:06 PM
My mind has, indeed, been blown. THANK YOU!
Posted by: PinkieBling | June 29, 2011 at 10:02 PM