Dulce de leche, which means milk jam in Spanish, is a sweet, caramelly concoction made from boiling and concentrating condensed milk. Nothing is added to the milk, but the cooking process imbues it with a rich sweetness well suited to cakes and confectionary.
My first attempt at this recipe was a complete disaster, and I’d been a little gunshy ever since. Then my friend Ozoz, the Kitchen Butterfly, posted her recipe for making dulce de leche in the microwave. Since I had three cans of condensed milk in the pantry, I thought it was worth a second attempt.
I emptied two cans of condensed milk (one skim, one full fat) into a large pyrex bowl.
This went into my 1100 watt microwave for :
- 6 minutes at 50% power, whisking every two minutes, then
- 14 minutes at 30% power, whisking every one to two minutes, or whenever the milk threatened to boil over.
Be prepared to stand by the microwave and watch this – it’s not a set and leave dish, as it can boil over in a heartbeat!
The finished dulce de leche came out of the microwave lumpy, but whisked into a smooth and silky caramel, which we spooned into sterilised glass jars and stored in the fridge.
. . . . .
The following day, I made dulce de leche truffles, dropping spoonfuls of the cold caramel into tempered chocolate. These were pleasant, but the balance of flavours wasn’t quite right.
. . . . .
I also made dulce de leche scrolls, which were absolutely delicious – Big Boy loved these! I followed the methodology for nutella scrolls, using the sweet dough from the Pain Viennois recipe. The dulce de leche worked particularly well with the sweet milk dough. Prior to baking, I brushed the tops of the risen buns with eggwash and scattered over a little demerara sugar for added crunch.
. . . . .
Since the oven was on all morning, I decided to try David Lebovitz’ recipe for dulce de leche with my last remaining tin of condensed milk. This entailed pouring the milk into an ovenproof dish and covering it with foil, then baking it in a water bath for an hour or so at 220C. The milk set in the oven like a soft baked custard, but was easily transformed into creamy dulce de leche with a little whisking.
What a fantastic ingredient! Maybe I need to try a Chilean Torta De Hojas next…
Edit 26/2: I was inspired by the comments below to try making dulce de leche from scratch. Have a look here – seriously chuffed with the results!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 
Yummy-yum!! I just love dulche de leche. I live in Spain and am constantly on the look-out for anything dulche de leche. Am now going to copy out your recipe and have a go. Many thanks.
Love it – it’s so addictive!! :D
Oh wow those dulce de leche truffles look so tasty!!! I recently bought store bought dulce de leche, but I really want to try to make it from scratch… I look forward to trying this recipe! :) Thank you for posting it!
“water bath”: baño de María
Greetings from Argentina!
It looks a lot more fluid and clear than those I am used to. My mother used to simply put the cans in what we call a “Banio Maria” (A Maria bath). That is you immerse them in water. If you do that in a normal pot, you need to cook the thing for hours. So my mother used to put them in a pressure cooker. For the dulce the leche to come out best, you have to keep the can closed, it is only opened after the cooking. But then be carefull that it doesn’t plop out and burn you from the pressure. Better to wait until it cools a bit.
Dulce de leche is by the way not candied milk in Spanish, it simply means “Milk jam”.
And you have to try it as a filling for pancakes. Though to my personal opinion, there is nothing as a pot of the thing and a spoon. These days one can even buy diet dulce de leche – though as far as I know only locally either in Argentina or in Israel. Oh and years ago I found out that they also sell dulce de leche in the Normandie in France and sitting with a Russian friend I found out that they also have something similar in Russia. (I had been trying to trace the history of the dulce the leche back then)
One can also make it from scratch. Here the recipe for you. I have translated it from the original spanish for you:
INGREDIENTS
4 liters of milk (cow milk)
1 kg of white sugar
1/2 TS of sodium bicarbonate
A little bit of vanille essence
Preparation:
Put all the ingredients into a big pot, preferably a copper or aluminium one. Cook with a strong fire, turning with a wooden spoon so it will not stick.
When the mixture starts to take color (light brown) and getting denser, base the fire to the minimum and continue cooking, turning the jam now and again so as that it will not burn or stick to the pot’s bottom. Once it doesn’t run anymore, retire from the fire. Put the pot into a larger one with cold water, and turn the mixture for a few minutes. This makes the jam to get even denser.
Cooking time – approx. 2 hours.
Adriana, thank you! Rebecca left me a similar recipe – now I have two, I will have to give this a go! :) I’m terrified of putting sealed cans in the pressure cooker! Thanks also for the headsup on the meaning – I went from Wikipedia – will correct it now…
The scrolls look delcious, I will have to add them to my list of to-dos.
Thank you for sharing your recipe! It looks delicious!
Wow… I have to say, these recipes look absolutely amazing and I’m so proud that my fellow sister enjoys baking / cooking from scratch! Hoo-rah! Where, exactly did you say you and your husband are from? I will keep updated with your recipes… they look fabulous! Living healthy :o)
-Shannon
Hi Shannon, we’re in Sydney Australia. Nice to meet someone else who enjoys homecooking as well! :)
yum :)
This looks great. You should make Dulce de Leche ice cream – it’s delicious.
Hmmmm….now there’s an idea… :)
You should come to Argentina and try all the things we have here with dulce de leche.
I think the real thing is made like this (no condensed milk, no microwave… sorry. And you have to use the wood spoon, no wisk):
Ingredients: Every liter full-cream milk, 300 grams sugar, a vainilla bean to taste, 1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda. A tablespoon of honey: the secret.
Preparation: Boil whole milk and sugar with the vainilla bean and the pinch of bicarbonate of soda, over a rather quick fire until milk takes a little color. Continue over a minimum fire, barely simmering, stirring frequently to avoid sticking to the bottom and possibly scorching, until thick. Remove from the heat, add a tablespoon of honey and stirring. Save in jars: it keeps for months.
You will see is turns thicker and darker, that is how it should be :)
It is so nice to see dulce de leche around the globe!
Good Luck!
Wow, Rebecca, thank you for this! It does sound like a skill though, to keep the milk from burning. I couldn’t get the microwave version to go any browner, and I’ve noticed that the jarred versions are often much darker. Might need to give this a go.. :)
Grrr !! Makes me HUUUUNGRY !!!
Mm those rolls look delicious! What was off about the truffles?
M, I used a dark origin chocolate (70% cacao from Sao Thome) and the flavour just wasn’t right – the chocolate was a bit too smoky/woody in contrast with the sweet DDL. Definitely one worth working on, though!
I made this the other week. Pure gold (no pun).
I used a recipe for it I found somewhere online. All you do is poke a small hole on either side of the can’s lid (to release pressure build up), stick the can in a pot, fill the pot with water till it’s about a half inch or so from the top of the can, and boil for 3 hours. If you want it thicker, boil for 4 hours. You need to add more water every half hour or so as it evaporates to keep it at the half-inch mark.
So worth making. The flavor is amazing.
Thank you for that – I’ve always been apprehensive of boiling up the cans, but then again I didn’t know you could poke a hole in them – I always thought they had to be boiled sealed! Had visions of explosions in the kitchen.. :)
Somebody once told me there weren’t such thing as “Dulce de Leche” in the USA or Europe. Anyway, I guess he/she was wrong. I’m glad to know everybody knows what it is. I like it a lot. what about you?
Here in Brazil we call it “Doce de Leite”.
Fernando, we even know about it all the way over here in Australia! :D
Oh Wow those truffles look YUMMY!!! Can’t wait to try the recipe!!
I bet those scrolls are all gone now …
Tell me about the truffles … maybe milk chocolate with high cocoa content might help? I saw David Leb does a dulce de leche brownie so maybe a sweeter dark would work. I must try this as I’ve only ever tasted dulce in banoffi pie and in fairness that tasted of bananas :-0
Gillian, O Chocolate Guru, I think you’re right. The DDL was too sweet and it seemed to clash with the dark 70% chocolate. I have some Venezuela Milk which is very high cocoa (43%), which would probably be perfect with these. Or the standard 54% Callebaut dark maybe. Now that I think of it, caramel is almost always paired with milk, isn’t it?
I can’t believe those truffles weren’t great. They look heavenly……..Superb and those rolls look fantastic too!
They were very nice, Oz, just not perfect. But the scrolls…oh my…they were an absolute winner! Thanks for the inspiration, girlfriend! :)
it all looks delicioso! :)
wow, looks wonderful. i can’t wait to try! thank you for sharing!
Dulce de leche is so essential in Uruguay! It’s cheaper to buy it in the supermarket instead of condensed milk (which I like on its own and wouldn’t think of using it to create dulce de leche!).
One simple thing I do is mix dulce de leche with cocoa and biscuit crumbs, make balls and take them to the fridge.
Another is to heat it and mix with cocoa (again) and butter, to make cake icing.
Great ideas, thanks Magdalena! The cake icing is particularly appealing…
So much time I don’t eat it! :cry:
I love it!!!
That looks so delicious
We have a deli nearby which used to be owned by some people from Argentina. Of course they stocked DDL in the cool cabinet! I bought some and made a recipe I found on the net – Dulce de Leche Bat Cookies, rather fiddly but the sweet caramel sandwiched between intense chocolate biscuit was a hit. My mum used to make caramel sauce by boiling cans of Condensed Milk for 3 hours, as other people have advised. But the mw sounds like go also! Thanks!!
It is very tasty ,….., I like a lot, is not recommended for diabetics,
sinBalas greetings
Now I want some with ice cream
Look delicious!
I make dulce de leche the way my mom taught me which is basically just boil the un-opened cans for several hours. You make sure they’re always submerged under boiling water by topping it up ever 10-15 minutes with water from the kettle. Trust me, it makes a much richer dulce de leche than the microwave version, although it is much easier in the microwave!
Celia, this is awesome – I’m totally trying this!
Yum and yum! You’re making me very hungry. Thanks for sharing :-)
Really awesome! Here in Brazil we use to do it, too, though just like PrincessT, my mom boils the unopened tin of sweetened condensed milk in a can (it’s a special can, I don’t know the name in English) for about one hour. Then, she waits for it to cool a bit, and after that she opens the tin carefully (’cause it could be still hot inside) and there we have a dulce de leche that is not so creamy, so that you can cut it with a knife or a spoon – and perhaps a bit more tasty.
And glad to know that you have it there in Australia. I’ll enjoy it for sure – both the place and the sweet. :D Great post! ;)
Holy macaron that looks good! I love the idea of the rolls as they look a bit like Norwegian cinnamon buns (which I am unable to resist).
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how did u make those choclate things
Wow, so many people boil unopened cans – you’re all so brave! :)
Lorraine, they’re a bit like sticky cinnamon buns, only easier to make, since the DDL is already on hand!
Shaey, the microwave DDL set quite hard in the fridge, like toffee, so it was easy to just scoop out balls and drop it straight into tempered chocolate. I didn’t have to make a ganache filling first. I posted about a making regular chocolate truffles here.
Que rico!! te felicito por tu post!
Yikes, I tried this today in the microwave, but used far too small of a container. Cue bubbling sweetened condensed milk ALL OVER the glass plate of the micro. GAH!!!
Oh dear, I’m sorry to hear that, Jade! It can rise up pretty quickly…
[…] although she did admit that the pan boiled dry! There are two alternative methods listed by Fig Jam & Lime Cordial, one using a microwave and the other cooked in a bain marie/water bath in the oven.) Having […]