Sweet Milk for Those with Sweet Tooth Wednesday, 14 July 2010 11:17 Written by Florencia Giner

The traditional and old fashioned Dulce de Leche (Caramel Sauce) has been in the pantries of almost every home in Argentina for ages as a somehow well kept secret. Recently or just a few years back the secret got out to the world and big retailers like Haagen Dazs Ice Cream, Yoplait Yogurt or Starbucks Coffee decided to include in the list of products they offer to the public this sticky, sweet, caramelized milk-and sugar sauce as a new flavor for their products. The curious thing is that even cosmetics retailers have felt for the Dulce de Leche fever and even OPI has a nail polish tone in ‘Dulce de Leche’.

The story goes that ‘Dulce de Leche’ may have been invented by Napoleon’s soldiers burning milk and sugar while in the field, or by a housekeeper who forgot the milk on the stove.  Whatever the origin, the flavor is legendary. In fact nobody is sure where it comes from, Argentineans claimed that WE invented it but Mexicans have it too (although they call it ‘Cajeta’).

Dulce de Leche is almost like a national institution back in Argentina and present in our lives since we were children. We all had at some point toasts w/ butter and dulce de leche for breakfast when we were kids and keeping the ‘figure’ was not an issue and I’m sure that most of us remember with a smile in our face our mom giving us banana with dulce de leche for desert while growing up or just steeling the jar from the refrigerator when mom was not looking and eating it with a spoon.

There are even funny family stories around the Dulce de Leche and the love we had for it as kids. In my family the story goes that when my two favorite cousins that were 4 & 5 years old respectively they got in serious trouble because of the Dulce de Leche. One Saturday afternoon my aunt prepared a fancy cake with dulce de leche to take out that evening to a diner party they were invited, the kids as all kids wanted to eat the cake right away, my aunt told them later. Thinking that she got the desert covered she went to take a nap (siesta) and she put the kids in bed so they could be rested for the evening. Unfortunately the kids got up early and decided let mom sleep a little bit longer. The youngest, who always was the trouble maker, decided that he didn’t want to wait to eat the cake, so he pull a chair next to the refrigerator in order to try to reach the cake that was lying on top, this was not that easy because he was little but with effort and in his tip toes he was able to take bits of the cake with his bare hands. The problem came after eating the cake, because his hands completely covered with Dulce de Leche he touched the refrigerator, the chair, the kitchen counter, then he went to the living room (you get the ‘sticky’ picture).  His brother, who has always been a model of organization even when he was a child saw with horror the ‘sticky’ mess that his little brother created so he decided to try to clean it before their mother could see it, well it didn’t quite work so he ended spreading the sticky mess… Anyway, long story short my cousins are today in their thirties and if you mention this story to their mother she still gets angry.  

Dulce de leche is a rich, milky & smooth sauce, that can be used as filling in facturas (pastries) like croissants or ‘churros’, to drizzle over ice cream or fruit for dessert, on toast or waffles for breakfast, or as the filling between the layers of a layer cake, on.  In addition you can add it on top of your ‘arroz con leche (spanish rice pudding)  or your ‘flan’ and most restaurants in Argentina will offer you ‘panqueques w/ dulce de leche’ (crepes) . One of the most famous sweet treats you can get with dulce de leche are the ‘Alfajores de Maicena w/ Dulce de Leche’ (soft ‘cornstarch’ cookies filled w/ dulce de leche & covered w/ shredded coconut). Most people now buy Dulce de Leche in the supermarket, preferring the convenience of a packaged product. 

Although making Dulce de Leche is not difficult, it is time-consuming (if you do it from scratch); the mixture takes hours on the stovetop to reach the right consistency, but all the chef has to do is give it a stir now and again. You can also ‘cheat’ like I do and do the fast version that still tastes very good, boiling an unopened can of ‘sweetened condensed milk’ and then let it cool off before opening.

No matter how old you are, dulce de leche will always be a fun treat. If you want more information about preparing ‘dulce de leche’ or some of the deserts mentioned here, please visit Dolls Cook Book for the recipes.

Comments 

 

#2 RE: Sweet Milk for Those with Sweet Tooth — yelena 2010-07-17 11:55

@elena - It's like my childhood :) I used to love condensed milk.

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#1 I miss my childhood... — elena 2010-07-14 11:57

This so reminds me about my childhood. When I was born it was still USSR (closed market). We had deficit of everything. One of the best treats was condensed milk (we had a very big stock at home), which my mom also used to boil in the can to get that yammy brownish caramelised sauce for the cakes and pastry.

I used to make a small hole in the can and suck the content out and put it back. I was in a big trouble when my mom found out my trick. Hehehe.

BTW my nails are covered by Dulce de Leche OPI nail polish at the moment. It is more on the pink side, while I would expect it to be on the caramel/brownish side.

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