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Making Dulce de Leche: Double Boiler Method

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Dulce de Leche Double Boiler Method

Welcome to the fourth post of my ‘Making Dulce de Leche‘ series! Up today: making dulce de leche in a double boiler.

Nope, I’m still not tired of making dulce de leche, even though I’ve probably eaten 8 batches of the stuff in the past couple of weeks already. There’s just something kind of magical about making it! I think it’s the fact that you just sort of need to let it happen on its own. Sure, it takes forever to cook this stuff, but it’s not like it requires your attention. On the contrary, all you need to do is to just let the dulce de leche (or rather: dulce-de-leche-in-the-making) do its thing!

Which means that you have time for other things, like – um- catching up on your thesis reading list and sneaking back to the kitchen every 30 minutes just to check on your kitchen timer, wondering how much longer the dulce de leche still needs to cook…

Or you could fold some laundry, only to run back to the kitchen every 15 minutes to check on the dulce de leche, willing it to cook faster.

Or you could try to learn how to sew a bench crate with your mom’s sewing machine, only to fly back to the kitchen every 5 minutes because you have the patience of a 2-year-old and can’t even wait 3 hours for the stuff to cook properly!

Dulce de Leche Double Boiler Method

Okay, so maybe I’m easily excited…So what?

We’re talking about dulce de leche here! And like I said, making dulce de leche is kind of magical. One minute you have a bowl of sweetened, condensed milk – which is kind of boring on its own – and the next you have milky, golden caramely goodness!

Dulce de Leche Double Boiler Method

And the best thing about making dulce de leche in a double boiler is the fact that you can actually see it caramelize! Hence the sneaking/running/flying back to the kitchen…

Which leads me to the best thing about making dulce de leche in a double boiler: you can stop cooking once you’re happy with the color of the dulce de leche!

Obviously you can’t do that when you’re making dulce de leche in a closed, or an open (but really only ventilated) can. Sure, you properly open the can if you’re making dulce de leche in the oven, but even when you make the sweetened, condensed milk in a glass baking dish, it’s almost impossible to determine the color of the dulce de leche as it cooks, because of the water bath and the strange fact that the sweetened, condensed milk at the sides of the baking dish and the surface doesn’t caramelize as much as the milk at the bottom of the dish.

And lifting the aluminum foil just to have a look at the dulce de leche is hardly a realistic option. I mean, you would first have to get the oven rack, including the heavy water bath and the baking dish out of the oven, then you would need to peel away the hot aluminum foil and then stir the dulce de leche before being able to check on the color!

Just not practical…

Dulce de Leche Double Boiler Method

However, when you cook dulce de leche in a double boiler,you’ll need to stir it every half an hour to make sure the sweetened, condensed milk caramelizes evenly, anyway! This means that watching the color of the milk change from creamy white to deeply golden is suddenly possible!

And fun!

And convenient! Because you can even taste it as it cooks!

Definitely the best part of making dulce de leche in a double boiler…

Dulce de Leche Double Boiler Method

So, go ahead and make some dulce de leche! Or some more dulce de leche if you have already made some! I won’t judge…

Like I said: I made 8 cups of the stuff myself over the past couple of weeks!

Enjoy!

5.0 from 2 reviews
Dulce de Leche: Double Boiler Method
 
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Ingredients
  • 1 can of sweetened, condensed milk
Instructions
  1. For this recipe you will need a double boiler. You can make a makeshift double boiler with a saucepan and a bowl that is placed over the pan. For more details, check out my post on 'Faking a Double Boiler' under 'Basics and Tips'.
  2. Fill the bottom part of the double boiler, or a saucepan if you're faking a double boiler, with 5 cm (or 2 inches) of water. Allow to come to a simmer.
  3. Open the can of sweetened, condensed milk and pour the contents of the can in the bowl of the double boiler. Cover the bowl of the (makeshift) double boiler tightly with aluminum foil.
  4. Place the bowl with the milk over the simmering water and leave to cook for 3 hours, stirring occasionally (as in: every half hour or so) with a rubber spatula to ensure even cooking.
  5. Once the sweetened, condensed milk has caramelized, take off the heat and allow to come to room temperature with the foil still in place. Once cooled, stir until smooth.
  6. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 3 weeks or use immediately.


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Comments

    • Thanks you so much Kathi! Love the name of your blog, by the way! 😉

      There are so many different ways to make dulce de leche! Even now that I’m doing these series I keep stumbling upon different methods that I hadn’t even heard about on the web!

  3. Hi there!! Looks fabulous! Question: do you have to use foil? Our double boiler comes with a lid – would that work? Or do you need the seal to be air tight? Let me know! Thank you!!

  4. Hi Nila,

    Thanks for doing all these Dulce trials for us! So glad I discovered this…
    I was wondering if you had tried this double boiler method with sugar and milk, instead of condensed milk? I’m teaching a class at a primitive skills + art studio and I’m trying to keep it as ‘from scratch’ as possible!

    Best,
    Giselle

  5. Hi
    I have tried this many times and its amazing I usually do it in the can though my question is what If i want to make it lighter so its more like caramel ? how can i do that?

  6. I found a wonderful little glass double boiler with top at a second hand store…and then it occurred to me that just maybe it would be easier to make dulce de leche in that rather than all that hassle and danger of uneven/over cooking in the oven…and then I found your blog entry. Way to go! I’ll never look back!

  7. Cool! I just made dulce de leche but undercooked it so I can finish it in a double boiler!

  8. Do you need to periodically add more water to the pan and do you keep it on a full boil the whole time or just a light summer?

  9. I tried making Dulche de leche with the “closed can method” and when four hours later I still had barely darkened sweetened condensed milk, I tried this method to finish cooking it.It worked wonderfully. And make a delicious cake filling.

  10. Hi! I was wondering if the flavouring of the dulce de leche changed when doing it in a double boiler vs ‘in the can’ over the stove method?? Cause I had read a blog post that said the taste was deeper in the can version vs the double boiler one. So, I just wanted to know if it was true.

  11. Hey my CM has been in the double boiler for over 3 and a half hours now and still no change in color! Why is that so? Though im afraid that a few drops of water have fallen into it cause of the steam, is that why??