One Ingredient Home Made Caramel

One ingredient and you can turn sweetened condensed milk into caramel in your sleep! Your slow cooker will do all the work for you.

This stores so well you may never have to pay for fancy commercial caramel sauce again. And some brands have preservatives and a dozen or more ingredients.

Enter home made caramel!

What is the Difference Between Caramel Sauce and Dulce de Leche?

Not much I am going to say as far as the end result. But the process is very different.

Both end up being sugars caramelized and cream. Note, if you can want the translucent caramel which is just caramelized sugar you will have to use the traditional stove top method.

If you want a creamy caramel sauce that you can drizzle over a dessert or use for home made ice cream (see Any Ice Cream Flavouring With 4 Ingredients) or flavour a cheesecake - you have come to the right place.

For this caramel sauce you start with sweetened condensed milk (SCM), which is the equivalent of the sugar and cream, in traditional caramel. By cooking it low and slow you end up with a consistent end product. Texture wise - it comes out of the can a perfect thickness for spreading or mixing into a cheesecake for example. However you do have to whisk it up to a creamy state since it is the shape of the can when it comes out! If for some reason you wanted it thinner (but can't think of why off the top of my head) you can gently warm some cream and whisk it in.

I also find this caramel is creamier and less sweet, which is a bonus in my books!

How To Make Caramel From Sweetened Condensed Milk

There are 3 common techniques to make caramel from sweetened condensed milk (SCM). You can choose the one that suits you the best.

The cooking ranges recommended make the difference between a light version or a darker stronger version. The longer you cook it the stronger it gets.

Maintaining the water levels in all methods is important. Cans can explode in the stove top and slow cooker method if the water level is not maintained. In the oven method you won't have an explosion but you may have a burnt custard or an unpleasant grainy-not-creamy texture.

For all methods you are going to use tongs or oven mitts to remove the tins out of their water bath after the recommended cooking time. Allow caramel to cool completely - at least 4 hours before opening the can or jar to use. The hot caramel sauce coming out of the water bath is under pressure and could spray all over when opened.

Slow Cooker Caramel Sauce

This is my preferred method because it requires the least amount of intervention and has some bonuses as far as storing the finished caramel sauce. It takes time but it is all hands off as long as you have a couple of inches of water covering your sweetened condensed milk containers.

Slow Cookers are very good at retaining the liquid through condensation and if you have a few inches of water over the jars to start with you usually don't need to top the water up mid-way.

With the slow cooker method you could be making caramel in your sleep! (HA! I love the idea of that!)

You can also easily make a 'batch' by converting a few cans worth of SCM to Caramel Sauce at the same time.

The simplest way is to remove the labels from the cans, cover the cans in your slow cooker with at least 1" and preferably 2" of water and cook on low 8-10 hours. Remove the hot cans with tongs and allow them to cool completely at room temperature. Use in your recipe as needed.

Any left over from your recipe will keep in the fridge in an airtight container for another 2 weeks.

Unopened cans will be shelf stable up to 3 months.

If you want to be a bit fancier, perhaps to gift some home made caramel sauce, you can transfer the SCM to mason jars to cook and store.

The slow cooker is good at not exceeding the given temperature so you can safely pour the SCM into a mason canning jar, put a sealing lid and screwband on it and cover them with water in your slow cooker. (See below if you plan to store them for a long period or gift them to someone.)

Cook them on low covered by 1"-2 for 8-10 hours.

If you plan to use it within a month, you can store the finished caramel sauce in the jar, refrigerated, until you are ready to use it. Whisk it to achieve a smooth, creamy consistency before using. You can warm it slightly to get the right texture after refrigerating. You can also mix a bit of heated cream to thin it. Store any leftover from your recipe in the jar in the fridge for a couple of weeks.

Long Term Storage After Slow Cooker Method

If you want to store the sauce for a long period or gift it to someone then follow basic canning guidelines. Sterilize clean mason jars in a 275 degree oven for 20 minutes, use new lids to ensure a reliable seal, fill the jar with SCM leaving a 1" headspace. Allow the sterilized jars to come to room temperature, the same temperature as the SCM. You don't want to pour cold liquid in to a hot jar. Wipe the jar rim with vinegar on a cloth to ensure there is no SCM on the rim preventing a tight seal. Tighten the screw band finger tight and simmer the required amount of time covered by at least 1" of water. Remove the jars after the cook time and allow them to cool at room temperature. Check the seal after 8 hours of cooling time by removing the screw band and carefully lifting the jar by the lid only. If it holds it is good and will be shelf stable up to 3 months.

If the lid comes loose then cover the jar with the lid and screw band and refrigerate. Use within a month.

Two 300 ml cans of SCM will give you 3 cups of finished Caramel Sauce. I used a combination of 2 half-pint jars and 2-quarter pint jars. That way you have a couple of smaller jars to open if you just want to drizzle a bit of it over ice cream or macarons etc.

Stove Top Caramel Sauce

The key to this method is that the sealed can of sweetened condensed milk must be submerged in water with at least 2" of water covering the can. Failing to maintain that level of submersion risks the can exploding due to the pressure building up inside the can. Apart from that it is dead easy- take off the label, cover the can in a large pot with water, bring it to a simmer and maintain a simmer, pot covered, for 2 hours for light dulce de leche or up to 3 hours for darker. Check your pot a couple of times to ensure you maintain a 2" margin of water over the can. Mine in this photos was a 3 hour simmer.

Oven Baked Caramel Sauce

I personally find this to be the fussiest method of the 3 but it takes the least amount of time - about 1 ½ hours instead of 2-3 or 8-10. There is also no risk of exploding cans this way.

Full disclosure - I have not tried this method - I include it here just to give you all the possible methods I am aware of. Instructions are from Epicurious so I consider them reliable.

You are going to pour the SCM into a 9" deep dish pie plate, cover it tightly with foil and set the pie plate in a roasting pan with water deep enough to go half way up the side of the pie plate. Cook it at 425 degrees for 1 1 /2 hours. You will have to remove the foil and stir it up after 45 minutes as well as check the water level. Add more water if necessary to keep water bath half way up the pie plate. Cook another 45 minutes. The caramel should be creamy thick and a deep gold/brown. Remove the pie plate and uncover it to allow it to cool. Use as necessary.

Caramel sauce will keep 2 weeks in the fridge.

So ..... fussy but doable. Personally - I prefer 'making it in my sleep'!!

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