A few weekends ago, a bunch of friends here in Paris got together for an Argentine-themed potluck supper! My contribution was dessert, and after a fair bit of googling and research into traditional desserts from Argentina, it seemed that the majority contained dulce de leche. Most recipes called for dulce de leche from a can, and a few suggested making it by baking a can of sweetened condensed milk until it was caramelized… but I really wanted to make it from scratch! It turns out that it’s pretty easy, but it takes a long time. I think it was worth it though, because it was super delicious.  Here’s the recipe I used, which is slightly modified from this recipe from epicurious .

INGREDIENTS
makes ~ 2 cups

270 g sugar
1 L whole milk
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS

Combine the sugar, milk, and soda in a large pot, and bring to a boil over high heat. Then reduce the heat to medium-low, and simmer for one to two hours until thick, brown, and caramelized. For the first part of the cooking process, you’ll only need to stir the mixture occasionally, however, as it begins to thicken you’ll need to stir more frequently.

YUM!

PS: The printable version of this recipe can be found here .