So, again, I suspect a lot of you already know this little trick, but thought I'd share this for a "how-to" this week. Its the perfect time of year for apples and caramel dip. If you're like me, you probably can't just buy that in the fruit section of your local grocery store! So here's what we do:
Start with a can of sweetened condensed milk (NOT evaporated milk). Take off the paper label and place the metal can in a pot of boiling water.
You will let it stay in the boiling water for 4 hours. I know, 4 hours! But there is nothing you need to do during that time except make sure the water covers the can--I check on it about once every hour and add a cup or two of water. I strongly encourage you to go the full 4. If you only do it for 2 or 3 it still tastes a lot like sweetened condensed milk to me.
This is what you should end up with. A very caramel-colored dip that is a very nice substitute when the real thing is not available! Just a note, I have only ever used this as a fruit dip. I do not know if it would work well in something you're baking...maybe others of you have tried that and can post a comment to let the rest of us know!
Crock Pot Variation: Place can in your crock pot and cover with water. Cook on HIGH for 8 hours. Check a couple times throughout the day to make sure there is plenty of water covering the can. Take out can and allow to cool.
Thanks for posting the last two "how to" thins :) I haven't tried doing ricotta before - thanks for directions :) Fun! I just learned about doing the caramel thing last week! I had no idea you could do that :) I didn't know you could just do it in a pot like that - cool! (I've only heard of doing it in a pressure cooker and mine isn't big enough) :) Thanks for posting this :)
ReplyDeleteOh, and I had a friend use this caramel to make chocolate caramel brownies and they were yummy!!! I bet you could use it in a bunch of recipes ;)
What's the time length in the pressure cooker, Andrea? Just in case others have one, I'm sure its shorter!
ReplyDeleteI do the caramel apple dip, but because our cooking gas is very expensive here, I use the pressure cooker to cut down on the time dramatically. I put about 3 cans in the cooker and do it for about 30 min. For Sophia's b-day we had a Fall Festival party with cornhole, bobbing for apples, and we made caramel apple sundaes.!
ReplyDeleteI use it for caramel chocolate bars, just add some flour to it and it loses it up a bit
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