The first time I had dulce de leche (read: dool-seh-deh-LEH-cheh) was when was I was in the US.

Dulce de leche literally translates to “Jam (or sweet) made of milk”, and is extremely popular in most of Latin America. It is very flavorful, but very sweet. Naturally for those who are watching their sugar intake, just eat less of this. 

Sugar intake is a major concern among many of my readers. I understand where they are coming from, because I also don’t like things that are overly sweet. While I try to reduce my kids’ intake of sugar whenever I can, to me, sugar is essentially still a treat. So once in a while, I think it is okay for them to have some. This is the reason why I try to make as many of their treats as possible. I have control over how much sugar is going into their systems.

Dulce de leche is actually very, very simple to make. 

I was in the process of making some dulce de leche when the LAM walked into the kitchen. This was part of our conversation:

LAM: You are making that thing, aren’t you? It doesn’t work!

Me: It does work!

LAM: Nope, I made it (eons ago) before I met you and it didn’t work.

Me: Okay, did you cook it for 2 hours at a low temperature?

LAM: Well, I thought if I increased the temperature then I can cook it in half the time!

Me: …

So, from this little exchange, you can easily see what commonly goes wrong when one makes dulce de leche. Yep, the urge to hurry the process along.

Some things simply cannot be hurried.

Making dulce de leche needs time so the condensed milk can go through the Maillard reaction. Simply put, this is the chemical reaction between amino acids and reducing sugars that gives browned food its desirable flavor. Ever seared steaks? Or baked cookies? Or maybe pan-fried some dumplings? If your answer is yes, then congratulations, you are a proponent of the Maillard reaction!

Anyway, back to my ice-cream.

If you have made any of my other no-churn ice-creams like this, this, this or this (I am sure there are more no-churn ice-cream recipes on the blog), you would have noticed that they all contain condensed milk. In this recipe, I am using Salted Dulce de Leche in place of condensed milk.

First let me show you how to make the dulce de leche.

Start by placing an unopened can of condensed milk in a pot of water. Make sure the water completely covers the can. Bring the water to a boil, then reduce to a simmer. Cover the pot and simmer for 2 hours. 

At the end of this time, remove the can from the pot and let it cool until you can handle the can.

Open the can and pour the contents into a bowl. The condensed milk would have turned into a dark caramel. This is dulce de leche!

To make Salted dulce de leche, add the flaky sea salt and stir until completely combined. 

This can be stored in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to 14 days. 

Pour 8oz/ 226g of the salted dulce de leche into a large bowl. Set this aside.

Whisk the cold cream with the vanilla extract until firm peaks form.

Transfer 1/4 of the whipped cream into the bowl containing the dulce de leche. Beat it in.

Gently fold in the remaining cream in 3 batches.

Pour half of the ice-cream mixture into an ice-cream container (like this Tovolo Glide A Scoop Ice Cream Tub, or a 9×5-inch loaf pan).

Drizzle salted dulce de leche over the ice-cream.

Sprinkle on half of the chopped chocolate.

Repeat this.

Move an off-set spatula around to create swirls in the ice-cream.

Cover and chill for a minimum of 4 hours, or over-night for best results.

Serve, drizzled with more Salted Dulce de Leche and sprinkled with chopped Salted Salted Caramel chocolate.

Heaven.. I’m in heaven..

😀