Dulche de leche Caramel AKA Eagle Brand

It occurred to me this week that this recipe would probably be good in the fall with apples. This has been a Christmas tradition in my family for 40 years?

It also occurred to me that it looks weird in the can so I put it in pretty little glass canning jars.

I copied this eagle brand recipe from the internet because I was too lazy to type it. Our family has been making this for years. Anyone in my family will tell you that if you take a nap and leave this unattended it will explode. Wow! that was some excitement that year.

Eagle Brand Caramel Dulce de Leche

DIRECTIONS:

Cook a can sweetened condensed milk, unopened in boiling water (very low boil) for 2-3 hours. It can then be spread into a prepared pie shell and covered in whip cream for an excellent pie, or I use it sometimes as a filling between layers of chocolate cakes.

Be sure the can is completely immersed in water while it simmers or there is a danger of the can exploding

Dulce de Leche Caramel #2

I put 4 cans in my large stock pot, covered them with a couple of inches of water to spare and let them boil merrily away for 3 hours. I checked them every 30 minutes to make sure they were still covered with water but since I put a lid on my pot I never lost much water at all. It was very undramatic. No explosions, not a bubble or a squeak. Just 4 cans of liquid gold. YUM!

Dulce de Leche Caramel #3 - For this kind of caramel, which we use in lots of desserts, we have a trick that is famous in South America and used in things like banoffee pie.

All we do is put the can of condensed milk into a pan of boiling water and let it simmer away for 3 - 3 1/2 hours, topping up with more water if necessary.

The sugar in the milk caramelises and when you take out the can (carefully) and open it, you will find a thick, dark toffee, known as dulce de leche, which is much more dense than you could easily make with whipping cream and sugar - and much easier.