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A really yummy and indulgent recipe that you can use in your desserts
is dulce de leche.
It's a sweetened milk caramel that's been reduced
and it can be used in so many different ways.
You can use it as a filling for, say, macarons,
you can fold it through vanilla ice-cream
or you can use it as a dipping sauce
or just jar it and give it to friends as gifts.
So I'm gonna start with one 395 gram can of sweetened condensed milk.
Now, just pour that into my saucepan.
Now, this recipe does take a little bit of time,
so make sure that you've got half an hour to 45 minutes free
because you need to concentrate on stirring the sweetened condensed milk
until it reduces and is nice and thick
and then starts to caramelise.
So the sweetened condensed milk will start off really liquidy
and gradually over time it will thicken and reduce
until it eventually will turn a golden colour.
But do keep an eye on it.
It is really good to use a rubber spatula
because you can get into all the corners and crevices of the saucepan.
You're not missing out on anything.
As it thickens, I like to change utensils from a rubber spatula
to a whisk
just to smooth out the lumps if there are any.
You can also make this using a double boiler,
so filling up your saucepan with some water
and putting a metal bowl on here.
It will take longer.
But it is a safer method.
So if you're not very confident in the kitchen,
use that method instead of going straight onto the saucepan
because there will be less chance that you will reduce this
and burn the mixture.
I like to add about a tablespoon of cream to the mixture
and that will just help loosen the caramel.
If it's getting stuck on the sides, it will help just pick it up.
The mixture's looking quite thick,
but I've smoothed out most of the lumps with the whisk.
But it's almost too thick now to use the whisk,
so I'm just gonna scrape this off.
I've turned the heat off.
And this is looking like a really nice consistency
if I was to use it, say, in a macaron or to fold it through ice-cream.
I'm just gonna swap back to my spatula.
Scrape down any of the edges.
And you can see now that it's very, very sticky,
but it's also workable, it's not reduced too much.
Now, if you wanted to turn this into a salted caramel,
and, trust me, that is just divine and to die for,
add a few teaspoons of salt or to your liking
and just stir it through
and you can do that at this stage.
Now, you will notice that the mixture has reduced by about half,
so if you need more than, say, 200 grams, then use a few more cans.
Serving it in a jar does make a really cute gift
and it will last for up to a week in a sealed container.
Dulce de leche is very naughty and indulgent,
but it is such a nice special treat.
My favourite way to serve it
is folding through some homemade vanilla ice-cream
and serving it with a brownie.
It is very naughty but oh so yummy!