What about when Tiny gave Dinorah a dulce de leche as payment for her favors, and she didn’t offer anyone a crumb?

– Julia Alvarez, In the Time of the Butterflies.

Dulce de leche, or nectar of the gods as I prefer to think of it, is essentially caramelized milk. While as delicious as caramel, the two are actually distinct products. Dulce de leche is made from slowly heating milk at a low temperature. Caramel, on the other hand, requires heating sugar at very high heat until it caramelizes, with the optional addition of milk or cream if you are perhaps making a caramel sauce. (Interesting side note: If you use goat’s milk instead of cow’s milk, you’re making cajeta.)

While caramel and dulce de leche might be equally delectable, dulce de leche is favored in South American countries such as Argentina and Uruguay. In fact, according to this Culture Trip article, it’s an ingredient in everything from cakes to pastries, and is even eaten on toast. (Now, that’s a breakfast I can get behind.) It’s also made into a popular candy.

Making Dulce de Leche

The key with homemade dulce de leche is low and slow. A shortcut method is to make it with sweetened condensed milk, though I’ve chosen to go the traditional route here with whole milk and simmered it on the stove. You can also make it in the oven, though I haven’t tried that method.

The baking soda in the recipe helps hasten the Maillard reaction. I also like Alton Brown’s suggestion of steeping the milk with a vanilla bean and seeds, though you can stir in extract at the end if you don’t have vanilla beans ($$$) on hand.

Reality Bakes

Though you’re keeping the temperature low, be sure you get the heat up enough to fully dissolve your sugar or you’ll end up with grainy dulce de leche. If this happens to you, you can try smoothing it out by reheating it and stirring in a little more milk or half-and-half.

You’ll also want to be sure to keep up with more frequent stirring once the milk starts to really caramelize to avoid it burning.

If intending to use your dulce de leche as a filling for alfajores, you’ll want it on the thicker side, but keep in mind that it will continue to thicken once it’s off the stove.