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It is crunch time around here. I still have lots of baking and other homemade food items to make, package, and deliver for Christmas. This Christmas I made dulce de leche for the kids to give to their teachers. Because time is precious, I am going to show you how to make this under 30 minutes (20 minutes to be exact) using a pressure cooker or the more common way of cooking it on the stovetop.
I have a special fondness for dulce de leche. Fifteen years ago I lived in a rural part of Bolivia for a summer volunteering at an elementary school. For breakfast, someone from our group would walk across the street to a roadside vendor, buy sweet bread, bring it back to the house, and we all slathered dulce de leche on toast. My word, just thinking about it brings back sweet memories.
{Related Post: Simple Glorious Caramel Sauce}
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Whether you plan on cooking these cans in a pressure cooker or a regular pot, fill your pot with water. Place cans in the pot making sure the water is well above the tops of the cans – otherwise your dulce de leche will explode onto your ceiling and could cause damage to your kitchen.
If you are using a regular pot, make sure you have a lid. Bring water to boil and then to a simmer with the lid on. Check every 30 minutes to make sure the water level is still above the tops of the cans. Cook for 3 hours.
If you are using a pressure cooker, do the same thing above except make sure you have about 1.5 inches of water above the tops of the cans. Seal your lid on and when your pressure cooker indicates you have a seal, cook for 20 minutes (cooking time starts after your pressure cooker indicator pops up). Allow the pot to completely cool before trying to un-tighten lid.
With both methods you must allow the unopened cans to completely cool before removing lid. Enjoy!
{Helpful comment from Amanda: DO NOT get over-excited and attempt to cool the cans down with cool, cold or icy water. This can cause it to explode, as well.} – thanks Amanda!
I don’t worry about exploding cans, I worry about the aluminum in the can leaching into the dulce de leche. The better way to make it is to pour the condensed milk into a canning jar and then proceed as you outlined above. The other benefit to this method (other than not eating aluminum) is that you can watch the color of the dulce de leche and pull it out when it reaches your desired color. I like mine really dark!
Thanks I’ll try that! I’m also wondering if it has to do with not letting the can cool completely to room temperature before opening. I’m usually in a hurry to use it, so I open it while it’s still slightly warm. Planning on doing some testing soon. Thanks for the suggestions!
Priscilla, I’ve had only one can of dulce de leche develop a teaspoon-sized area of crystals in the center. It was pressure-cooked for 18 minutes, cooled overnight in the covered cooker, dried off and then re-shelved until opened. I used the rest of the dulce de leche in the can immediately, so cannot say whether refrigerating it might have let the crystalized area grow. Since then, I have shaken each can thoroughly before pressure cooking it, and then cook it for just 15 minutes for a more creamy result. It refrigerates beautifully after that treatment, with no crystals developing.