Me? Caramel!!
You'd think I would eat hot fudge since I am addicted to chocolate but there's this little part of me that secretly loves the caramel probably a little more.
At work the other day we had a visitor, the property manager - duh, duh, duhhhhhh.
Actually, he came in to talk cakes, I totally lie, he came in to talk about the air conditioning unit but then he saw we had made 350 + cupcakes for an event and we could tell he wanted to devour one so we let him.
Then he asked if we could make him a specialty cake. Hook, line, sinker!
Um, that's what we do sir. Cakes.
Until he asked for a Torta Mil Hojas (in his best Chilean accent)
Torta Millionaire what?
A traditional Chilean cake. Layers of pastry smothered in layers of Dulce de Leche. Those Chili people know their way into my heart! Swoon!
Alright, not something we've done before so me, the R&D manager (nice title eh? We came up with it to make me feel special) decided it should be tested out.
First thing's first, the dulce de leche.
He didn't want it coming from a jar, so, this post is how you can make it at home with very little effort!
I'm Listening to: Got You (Where I Want You) - The Flys
DULCE DE LECHE
Really simply, take 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated!). I poke 2 or 3 holes with a bottle opener to make sure the cans don't explode.
I have heard that you don't need to if you make sure the water is over top of the cans the whole time but knowing me, I'd forget (it's a long process) and there would be milk splatters all over the place so if you are anything like me, time retarded, just please poke your holes and be done with it!
Place them in a pot large enough for both, fill water 3/4's of the way up the cans and place on the stove at low-medium to ensure a good simmer. Keep this going for about 3-4 hours.
That's right, I said hours.
You will need to be somewhat diligent about adding more water but nothing crazy, just top er up every half hour/hour or so.
If you stop around 3 hours your dulce de leche will be a golden colour but runny, leaving it closer to 4 will make it a deeper caramel colour and thicker.
Pull your cans out and let them sit for a good 15 minutes or so, remove the top and I tossed it into a bowl so that I could whisk it around to make it smoooooooth like butta!
Place in a sealed container and/or eat with a spoon.
I will post a recipe for the cake once taste tested and approved by some crazy Chilean co-worker of Mr. BM.
I'd read the "do not try this at home" unopened can recipes, too -- the thought of exploding cans with scalding hot condensed milk flying all over the kitchen (and me) kept me from trying it. Will have to give your "poked" version a go... I'm a caramel fan-atic, too. :)
ReplyDeleteOh, wowwzeee, Katrin! What an awesome recipe...now to do it w/o have a 911 EMT call! So you promise it'll work? Magic after 4 hours...I'm in!! xo Ally
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