I didn’t originally plan to give you two different ways to make dulce de leche. Not that it isn’t wonderful, but one way to make it seemed like enough. However, the last time I made this I was so excited to use it as a cake filling I forgot to catch a photo of it on its own.

When the time came to make it again, it was hot (at least by Canadian standards) and I didn’t want to add to the problem by turning on the oven. A different approach was needed, so I looked to my trusty pressure-cooker.

Both methods gave similar results. Either way, you get a sweet, rich, caramel-like sauce with a slightly milky flavour. The oven method is ideal on a chilly day, when you would like to cozy up and let the warmth and the sweet smell fill your home. The pressure cooker method is quicker and is ideal for those days when hanging out near a hot oven is the last thing you want to do.

According to the internet, many people make dulce de leche by gently heating up a can of sweetened condensed milk without opening it first. I was a bit nervous about this, and completely chickened out when my husband referred to this as a “food bomb”, so I decided to look into less frightening options. Call me a coward, but I’ve cleaned sticky food messes off the ceiling before and don’t really want to do it again.

This is great on ice cream, fruit, cookies, or many other things. I really love it in banoffee pie (stay tuned!).

Ingredients:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk

Directions (Oven Method):

1. Preheat oven to 400 degrees F
2. Pour sweetened condensed milk into small, oven-safe bowl
3. Cover tightly with aluminum foil
4. Place in a larger, oven-safe bowl
5. Pour water into larger bowl until it is about halfway up the sides of the smaller one
6. Bake for 4 hours, checking occasionally and adding water to the larger bowl if needed, be careful not to get water into the smaller bowl
7. After 4 hours, check to see if the sweetened condensed milk has darkened in colour to a caramel brown, if not you can cook for another 30 minutes

Directions (Pressure Cooker Method):

1. Pour sweetened condensed milk into a small, oven-safe bowl
2. Cover tightly with aluminum foil
3. Place on top of a wire rack in the bowl of your pressure cooker
4. Pour water into the pressure cooker bowl until it is about halfway up the sides of the bowl containing the sweetened condensed milk
5. Cook in pressure cooker for 40 minutes, let pressure naturally come down before opening