Dulce de Leche Sundaes

By Marilyn Hunter

I’ll never forget my first taste of dulce de leche. I was about eight years old on a family vacation in San Antonio. As we walked through a mercado near the River Walk, my dad popped a cajeta candy into my mouth and said, “Here. Try this.” It tasted a lot like my favorite candy at the time, a caramel lollipop called Sugar Daddy, but with an even deeper flavor. Nevertheless, I immediately knew I loved all things caramel.

Dulce de leche is a sweet caramel that can be made with sweetened condensed milk that’s been boiled into a custard. It’s is the easiest dessert in the world to make and one of the most decadent.

The boys recently discovered it also makes amazing sundaes. Just scoop vanilla ice cream over a layer of Mexican sugar cookies and pour dulce de leche over the whole creation.

Below are a few super-easy approaches from Eagle Brand for making homemade dulce de leche using canned sweetened condensed milk. For safety reasons, never heat the unopened can.

To get the recipe and shopping list on your smartphone (iPhone, BlackBerry, Android device) or PC, click here.

Dulce de Leche Sundaes

1 can sweetened condensed milk
Vanilla ice cream
Mexican sugar cookies

1. To make dulce de leche: Pour sweetened condensed milk into 9-inch pie plate. Cover with aluminum foil; place in larger shallow pan. Fill larger pan with hot water. Bake at 425°F for 1 ½ hours or until thick and caramel colored.
2. Put cookies on the bottom of individual serving dishes. Top with scoops of vanilla ice cream. Pour dulce de leche over ice cream and serve.

Alternative methods for making Dulce de Leche, courtesy of Eagle Brand:

STOVETOP METHOD: Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk into top of double boiler; place over boiling water. Over low heat, simmer 1 to 1 ½ hours or until thick and caramel colored. Beat until smooth.

MICROWAVE METHOD: Pour 1 can sweetened condensed milk into 2-quart glass measuring cup. Cook on 50% power (medium) 4 minutes, stirring briskly every 2 minutes until smooth. Cook on 30% power (medium-low) 20 to 26 minutes or until very thick and caramel- colored, stirring briskly every 4 minutes during the first 16 minutes and every 2 minutes the last 4 to 10 minutes.

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