5 Ingredients or Fewer

David Lebovitz' Dulce de Leche

by:
September 14, 2016
4.8
4 Ratings
David Lebovitz' Dulce de Leche
Photo by James Ransom
  • Makes about 1 cup (250ml)
Author Notes

This is the only path to homemade dulce de leche that lets you easily get in to taste and peek and tweak, without also requiring regular or constant stirring—the best of all worlds, the happiest medium for control freaks and tinkerers who nonetheless don't want to be tied for hours to a pot. Adapted slightly from The Perfect Scoop (Ten Speed Press, 2007). —Genius Recipes

What You'll Need
Ingredients
  • one 14-ounce (400 gram) can sweetened condensed milk
  • Pinch of sea salt
Directions
  1. Heat the oven to 425° F (220° C).
  2. Pour the sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.
  3. Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.
  4. Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1 1/4 hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary). Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth. Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using. Variations: Consider adding a vanilla bean at the beginning, or a tablespoon of sherry at the end.
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    Alexandra Majluf
Genius Recipes

Recipe by: Genius Recipes

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7 Reviews

Kate R.
Kate R. January 27, 2022
Perfect easy recipe; I had a can of sweetened condensed milk with only a tbsp used for a coffee emergency and this was a great way to use up the rest of it. Then got to use the results to make a Dulce de Leche Chocoflan from NYT :)
 
SIU_Avalanche
SIU_Avalanche March 26, 2020
I didn't try the recipe because I read a better way... Place unopened container in your instapot/pressure cooker. Cover can with water, cook 40 minutes. Turns out the same. I prefer 45 minutes, a little darker and richer!! I have also utilized the pull top cans without any issues. Let pressure release naturally, take out and let cool.
I throw a scoop in my cappuccino, scoop with apples, dollop on chocolate/marshmallow/graham cracker for some HUM DINGER S'Mores!!
 
Fresh T.
Fresh T. September 6, 2018
This is actually a recipe from Flo Braker, whom David knew and learnt from.
 
sarahpgilbert
sarahpgilbert September 18, 2016
What's the cookie in the picture? Looks delicious.
 
Kristen M.
Kristen M. September 18, 2016
Confession: I bought the cookies at a coffee shop across the street from our office—they're lavender shortbread. But Merrill has an excellent herby shortbread that could be adapted as you like: https://food52.com/recipes/4170-sweet-and-salty-herbed-shortbread
 
Alexandra M.
Alexandra M. July 26, 2017
looks like a variant of alfajor. You could use any shortbread recipe, but a very good cookie recipe is one that uses 50% cornstarch and 50% flour amounts
 
Kate V.
Kate V. September 15, 2016
This was a hit- served with icecream and bananas. Had some spare melted chocolate laying about from another project, so I rolled balls of leftover caramel in that- quick freeze to set and stored in the fridge. Thanks for the inspiration!