Sweet Serendipity

The easiest dulce de leche recipe ever.

By Kelly Hynes | Photos by Carmen Troesser

The origin of dulce de leche is a mystery. A distracted Argentine housekeeper may have left a pot of sweet milk on the stove too long. But perhaps she lived in Uruguay. Maybe it was Napoleon’s personal chef – or a handful of his soldiers – who burned their beverages while otherwise occupied on the battlefield. What all the fables have in common is a reverence for the world’s most delicious cooking accident.

Dulce de leche is the heavenly result of slowly simmered sugar and milk. Seriously slowly simmered – like for hours. It’s often compared to caramel, but that misses the mark. Caramel is made from cooked sugar. DDL’s sugar-plus-milk combination takes the toasty sweetness of caramel and adds an incandescent richness that you feel from the roof of your mouth to the tips of your toes.

Imagine my giddiness when I discovered this decadent confection can be made with one slow cooker, two cans of condensed milk and zero effort. Let me just say, I now have nine jars of DDL in my refrigerator, and no one in my family is mad about it.

Change up your iced coffee by adding dulce de leche.

Carmen Troesser

Simply open the cans of sweetened condensed milk – not evaporated milk, please and thank you. Divide the syrupy goodness between three glass canning jars, using a rubber spatula to extract every last drop. Then pick a flavor, like sea salt. Stir it in tenderly and lovingly – this is the only work you have to do, so you might as well do it with some ceremony. The amount of sea salt is entirely up to you. I initially added one-quarter teaspoon to each jar. That was the exact right amount when my DDL was served warm. But when consumed cold – straight out of the jar, over the sink, in the middle of the night – it was so salty my lips pursed. Start with less because, like a good story, you can always add more embellishment, but you can’t take it back.

If savory's more your speed, try a chili dulce de leche glaze on pork tenderloin.

Cameron Troesser

Screw the lids on tightly and place the jars upright in your slow cooker, then add hot tap water until the jars are submerged. My research recipes required covering the lids by an inch, but those writers either had squatty jars or bathtub-sized slow cookers. I filled mine to the tippy top, and water only covered the jars by a quarter-inch. Fortunately, water doesn’t evaporate from the slow cooker, so that scant measurement was enough. Cook on low for eight hours, leaving it alone except for lingering gazes of anticipation. Then use tongs to pull the jars out of the water, and let them cool on your countertop. When the jars are touchable, your milk caramel is ready to be savored.

Not only is slow cooker dulce de leche effortless, the texture is ethereal – it’s neither solid, nor liquid, nor rubbery, nor gritty. It’s smooth like hot fudge on its best day, which is why DDL kissed ice cream is a dazzling dessert; so are apple pie, bread pudding, shortbread cookies and flourless cake. But by far my favorite use of DDL is layered over dried apricots, covered in a blanket of dark chocolate. If you make only one recipe, make that.

Dulce de leche is dazzling over any dessert.

Cameron Troesser

If you become as obsessed with dulce de leche as I am, try experimenting with different flavors. Vanilla is an easy add. I liked cinnamon and bourbon. Complex seasonings like chili and curry powder move DDL into the savory universe. As with sea salt, the amount of bonus ingredients varies. A good rule of thumb is one-eighth teaspoon per jar for dry ingredients and one-quarter teaspoon for wet. Then, eight hours later, taste and make a mental note of any adjustments for next time. There will be a next time.

Sea Salt Dulce de Leche

3 8-ounce jars

2 14-oz. cans sweetened condensed milk Scant ½ tsp. sea salt, divided

Special equipment: 3 half-pint canning jars with lids and a slow cooker

• Divide the condensed milk and salt equally among the canning jars, and stir well. Tighten the lids onto the jars, and place them upright in the slow cooker.

• Add hot tap water to the slow cooker until the jars are completely covered. Cover the slow cooker and cook on low 8 hours.

• Use tongs to remove the jars from the hot water and let rest at room temperature until cool enough to handle. Serve warm or refrigerate up to 3 weeks.