Candies

Dulce de Leche… revisited

January 17, 2012 | Posted by pensivegirl | Comments Off on Dulce de Leche… revisited

If you have read this blog, you know I love caramel… With family coming over the holidays, I had to whip up a batch of dulce de leche to go over some decadent homemade vanilla ice cream. Of course, there’s nothing fast about making dulce de leche. It is a 3 hour long milk-jam-fest, but I think it is well worth it. In the end you have a caramelized jam that tastes distinctly of the milk you started with. As always, I urge you to use the best ingredients you can find because you are concentrating all those flavors.

Here are my recent exploits along with pictures:

Dulce de Leche
2 quarts or 1 half gallon Milk
24 oz Sugar
1 vanilla bean
3/4 tsp baking soda

1. Have sterile jars ready to go for your finished product. If you sterilize in the dishwasher, just leave them in there until you are ready. We are not making a pantry item, like fruit jams, and we will not be water-bath sealing the jars. This product must live in the refrigerator. I have found it lasts much longer than the pros suggest. They suggest between 1-2 months, and I have found it good in my fridge for 6.

2. Slice & scrape vanilla bean into milk, in the largest pot you have. It should be at least twice as tall as the amount of liquid you’re putting into it. (I use a 8″ high large wide oval enameled cast-iron oven – see pics.)

3. Bring milk up to almost boiling. (It is never good to walk away from boiling or almost-boiling dairy. Once you start this recipe, you are in the kitchen with that pot for almost 3 hours. Make sure you have a drink, a snack, and that you’re good to go.)

4. Add sugar and stir continuously until sugar dissolves and becomes completely incorporated into the milk.

5. As mixture comes almost to a boil once again, add the baking soda.

After adding Baking Soda

(BE PREPARED – this tiny amount of baking soda is going to cause a bubbly and hissy fit in the pot. In my pot, which is more than double the amount of milk, it does almost bubble over the edge. When this happens, I remove the pot from the heat for a few seconds to let it relax. Once manageable, I put right back on the heat.)

 

 

Calm after the Storm

6. Continue cooking and stirring this mixture until it is thick and brown. For me, this happens almost exactly 1 hour past

the addition of the baking soda. (You are looking for viscosity, while not allowing it to burn. Remember that brown color is the caramelization of the milk solids.

Getting Brown & Yummy

 

The darker you like your caramel, the darker you can let your dulche de leche go.

Be careful if you are pushing the envelope of color; it will burn in an instant!)

 

Brown & Bubbly

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

7. Once you have decided it is ready, remove from heat. Ladle into jars.

I use a canning funnel to make this easier and cleaner. I also leave about 1/2″ room of headspace at the top of the jar.

 

 

 

 

8. Once cooled to room temp, store jars in the fridge. Enjoy the fruits of your labor!

 

Caramel, Butterscotch, & Dulce de Leche

December 2, 2010 | Posted by pensivegirl | Comments Off on Caramel, Butterscotch, & Dulce de Leche

OK, now that I have made them all a bazillion ways…  they are all caramels!!!  Did you know this?  I didn’t.  I thought there was some alcohol surely involved in butterscotch. Nope… just brown sugar and butter.  I was never convinced of what dulce de leche was except that it was delicious.  It’s a caramel milk jam.  Yep – sounds good right?  So here are my three favorites.

The DULCE DE LECHE is straight from my dear friend (ok, he doesn’t know me – but I know him!) Alton Brown.  So I’ll link it here for you.  Dulce de Leche has an intensely milk flavor as it is, indeed, a sweetened milk jam.  The milk solids carmelize as the jam is reducing.  It is tremendously addictive and to be honest, I eat it right out of the jar.  Even though it is a caramel, it is so distinct due to the abundance of milk in it.

The BUTTERSCOTCH (yum!) has found its way into my heart and into my brownies more than I can say…  I find that butterscotch is darker, richer, and more developed than white sugar caramels.  Surely that is due to the molasses content in its main ingredient – brown sugar.  Here it is, with the disclaimer that food like this will only taste fabulous if you use good quality ingredients, since there are so few…

  • 206 g. light brown sugar
  • 2 fl. oz. water
  • 84 g. golden cane syrup
  • 1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
  • 4 fl. oz. cream, room temp, not ultra-pasteurized
  • ¼ tsp. soy sauce, no cheap imitators please
  • 58 g. european higher fat salted butter, room temp
  • 1/8-1/4 tsp. sea salt
  1. Prep your 8″x8″ by lining with parchment.
  2. Make sure the butter is room temp and cut into tablespoons.
  3. Bring your cream to room temp, as well, and add the soy sauce to it.
  4. The brown sugar, rice syrup, water, and cream of tartar all go into a high-sided saucepan on high heat to dissolve.  You can stir – but only while the sugar is dissolving and not in a vigorous manner.  Once the sugar dissolves, place a lid on the pot for 5 minutes.
  5. Remove the lid and insert your candy thermometer.  DO NOT STIR.  Lower heat to med or med-high.  DO NOT WALK AWAY.  I like the temp to come to 290-300 Farenheit.  I know a lot of recipes call for 340, but I think it is too bitter to take.  Watch it and listen to you nose!  Your nose knows.  If it smells like cooked sugar getting dark and looks like it is getting too dark – act quickly and move on to the next step regardless of the lies your thermometer is telling you.
  6. Remove pan from heat for 2 minutes.  Then add cream.  It will bubble violently as it mixes into the hot sugar.  BE CAREFUL.  Stir the cream in.  When it seems well mixed, add the tablespoons of butter.  Stir lightly and return to medium heat.
  7. Cook until the temperature has return to 255 Farenheit.
  8. Pour into your prepped pan.  After 30 minutes cooling, add the sea salt.  Let butterscotch cool for at least 3 hours.
  9. At this point, the butterscotch is yours to enjoy in any way you like.  As I said my favorite is to place it right in between two layers of fresh brownie. :)  Enjoy!  (This makes a layer of butterscotch that is approx 3/8″ thick.  You can easily double this recipe and use the same pan for them to set up.

The CARAMEL CANDY is just divine.  How else could so few ingredients make your mouth so happy?  If you use less cream, you get a stickier caramel candy.  If you use more cream and cook the second cooking shy of 255 – you will end up with more of a sauce.  I like this ratio because it gives you something solid enough to be candy and yet soft and fluid enough to be chewable.

  • 412 g. sugar
  • 4 fl. oz. water
  • 168 g. golden cane syrup or corn syrup
  • 1/4 tsp. cream of tartar
  • 8 fl. oz. cream, room temp, not ultra-pasteurized
  • 9 Tbl. unsalted butter
  • 1 tsp. sea salt, to taste
  1. Prep your 8″x8″ by lining with parchment.
  2. Make sure the butter is room temp and cut into tablespoons.
  3. Bring your cream to room temp, as well.
  4. The sugar, syrup, water, and cream of tartar all go into a high-sided saucepan on high heat to dissolve.  You can stir – but only while the sugar is dissolving and not in a vigorous manner.  Once the sugar dissolves, place a lid on the pot for 5 minutes.
  5. Remove the lid and insert your candy thermometer.  DO NOT STIR.  Lower heat to med or med-high.  DO NOT WALK AWAY.  I like the temp to come a little higher with white sugar caramel – about 320 Farenheit.  Watch it and listen to you nose!  Your nose knows.  If it smells like cooked sugar getting dark and looks like it is getting too dark – act quickly and move on to the next step regardless of the lies your thermometer is telling you.
  6. Remove pan from heat and add cream.  It will bubble and steam violently as it mixes into the hot sugar.  BE CAREFUL.  Stir the cream in.  When it seems well mixed, add the tablespoons of butter.  Stir lightly and return to medium heat.
  7. Cook until the temperature has return to 255 Farenheit.
  8. Remove from heat and let sit in pan for 15 minutes.  Taste carefully – this is liquid hot sugar so use caution! – and add the salt to taste.  Blend in.
  9. Pour into your prepped pan.  After 30 minutes cooling, add the sea salt.  Let caramel cool for at least 3 hours.  Enjoy any way you like.  Store airtight.

Be aware that moisture is the sworn archenemy of any kind of caramel.  This is evidenced by how easy it is to clean up your caramel cooking pot.  Keep them dry and they will keep you happy.