Make Your Own: Dulce De Leche

 Milk and sugar. Slowly simmered until the sugar caramelizes and produces a sweet, thick, and creamy spread. Now that's the stuff of dreams. Well, at least MY dreams anyway. I' talking about Dulce de Leche, that wonderful stuff which goes well on pretty much anything. Cake, crackers, toast, pancakes, cookies, ice cream, flan, cheese.... I could go on all day. 

Dulce de Leche, and its many sweet cousins (The Mexican Cajeta, the Colombian Arequipe, the Peruvian Manjar Blanco...) have been finding their way into American supermarket shelves over the past few years. Usually, you can find at least three different brands of Dulce de Leche in the grocery store. But, if you don't like any of the brands available, you can't find any, you're a do-it-yourselfer, or you just want to impress someone with random culinary knowledge, here is an easy and rather inexpensive way of making Dulce De Leche. This is not the traditional recipe, which would require quite a lot of time and constant supervision. If you are interested in the traditional way of making it, however, Alton Brown has a great recipe for it. 

The easy way requires a can of condensed milk, a pot of boiling water and about 2 hours of your time. 

1) Peel the labels off of the can.

2) Poke 2 holes on top of can with a can opener. VERY IMPORTANT STEP! Otherwise it could explode :(

3) place can in pot. Cover with water until just before top of can. Simmer on medium high heat.

4) Make sure water level is always constant. In about 2 hours, you should have Dulce de Leche.

Enjoy!