In Chile, I had my first taste of this rich caramel. Since I live in the United States and couldn’t buy it, I experimented with several methods until I discovered this great recipe. Find your own way to enjoy this creamy caramel from Latin America by spreading it on toast or rolls, adding it to brownie recipes, sandwiching it between sugar cookies, putting it in coffee, etc.
| Prep Time: | 5 mins |
| Cook Time: | 1 hr 25 mins |
| Total Time: | 1 hr 30 mins |
| Servings: | 50 |
| Yield: | 50 servings |
Ingredients
- 1 gallon whole milk
- 4 cups white sugar
- 1 cup granular sucralose sweetener (such as Splenda®)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 2 tablespoons water
- 1 pinch salt
Instructions
- Combine milk, sugar, sweetener, and vanilla in the biggest pot you have. Place over medium heat and stir until sugar dissolves. Increase heat and bring to a rolling boil.
- As soon as it boils, combine water and baking soda in a small bowl and stir to dissolve; don’t worry if it doesn’t dissolve completely.
- Remove pot from the stove and place in the sink. Add baking soda mixture and stir vigorously as milk will expand rapidly-be prepared! When the mixture returns to its original volume, return the pot to the stove and bring to a very brisk simmer. It may concern you that it will scorch, but it should be practically boiling. Cook, checking and stirring occasionally, until it turns a deep golden brown, about 1 hour.
- After the mixture has turned dark caramel in color, check it more frequently. The longer you cook it after the color change, the thicker it will be. For a consistency similar to caramel, cook for another 15 minutes. For a thicker, spreadable consistency, cook for another 20 to 25 minutes. For a candy-like consistency, cook it even longer. Just remember that it will thicken up tremendously after cooling.
- Once you’re ready, pour the caramel into a plastic container with a lid, or pour into jars. It can be kept without refrigeration, but with refrigeration it is good for many weeks.
- You can use white sugar for the Splenda(R), if desired.
Reviews
My experience is the same as lutzflcat. Reduced recipe to 1/8 (1 pint), wisked it often and ended up with a product the consistency of shortening, but somewhat grainy. The biggest difference is I used no sugar, only Truvia Sweet Complete. I’m thrilled to know I was able to get the same results with a sugar-free alternative. Love it in my morning coffee and on the apple of the day! Finally I can feed my caramel craving guilt-free!
5.30.21 I scaled this recipe down to using 1 pint of milk, and when I took it off the heat, it probably was reduced in volume 75%, so plan accordingly. I found whisking rather than stirring worked better, and it appeared to have arrived at the consistency I wanted at 40 minutes. It did firm up substantially when cooled, however, I wanted to use it as a drizzle on some brownies, so allow for that in your timing. It does taste awesome, but the texture of it is not what I’m used to with dulce de leche, and maybe this shouldn’t be. Just not as creamy and a bit on the grainy side. Honestly, I think I’ll just stick with canned dulce de leche, but thanks for sharing your recipe.