Dulce de Leche Recipe: 4 Tips for Making Dulce de Leche

Dulce de leche is a caramelized confection made by cooking milk and sugar for two to three hours. The heat slowly browns the proteins in the milk and evaporates the water, leaving a thick, sweet substance with the consistency of smooth peanut butter. The sweet dessert is popular throughout Latin America (and Poland, where it’s called kajmak).

Traditional homemade dulce de leche is made by reducing milk and sugar on the stovetop, but you can also use a can of sweetened condensed milk to reduce the cooking time. The closed can acts as a pressure cooker, evenly distributing the heat from the simmering water and indirectly browning the milk solids while trapping the moisture inside the can.

With the consistency and nutty brown hue of butterscotch, dulce de leche tastes like a cross between toffee and brown butter.

Dulce’s nutty, rich flavor makes it a flexible confection in multiple applications. The milk candy plays a signature role in an array of sweet treats like alfajores (a popular treat in Chile, Argentina, and Peru, featuring dulce de leche sandwiched between two soft cookies or shortbreads) brownies or cupcakes, and Mexican jamoncillo candy, a dulce de leche fudge.

Dulce de leche is simple to make and easy to incorporate into your favorite dessert recipes.

1. 1. Use canned sweetened condensed milk to reduce cook time. If you plan to use an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk to make dulce de leche on the stove, keep it fully submerged in the boiling water, occasionally topping it off with hot water as needed to prevent tearing or exploding of the can. After simmering the can in water for two hours, remove it with a pair of tongs and wait until it has thoroughly cooled to room temperature to open.
2. 2. Bake it in a bain-marie. If you don’t want to use the stovetop-can method, you can bake the dulce in the oven using a bain-marie. Simply pour it inside a pie dish and cover it with aluminum foil to protect it from direct heat. Next, set the pie dish inside of a roasting pan, then place it in the oven. Fill the roasting pan with boiling water, then bake for two hours at 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
3. 3. Thin it out. Dulce de leche may thicken as it cools down, so you may need to thin it out over some simmering water to use it as a garnish for ice cream or cheesecake. Create a water bath using a double-boiler, and heat a few tablespoons of dulce de leche in a pot over the simmering water. Stir the mixture occasionally to loosen.
4. 4. Store extra dulce de leche in sealed jars. Store any leftover dulce de leche, either from a can or a homemade batch, in a sealed airtight container, like a glass Mason jar. Store it in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

While dulce de leche and traditional caramel can have similar flavor profiles and textures, caramel is made by browning sugar. Dulce de leche is made by browning milk (with a bit of sugar mixed in).