Piece of Cake: (Super Easy) Salted Dulce de Leche Drizzle for Cakes, Cookies, and Coffee

Because everything sweet also needs a little something salty, today I’m kicking off the week with a recipe for salted dulce de leche. It tastes a whole lot like salted caramel sauce…only dulce de leche is about 100 times easier to make. If you can open a can and use a slow cooker, you can make this sister sauce to salted caramel.

This recipe actually kicks off a new series of posts that I’ve teamed up with Linda Jednaszewski to create. Linda works behind the scenes with me on Paper & Stitch, mainly with craft production and now recipe development as well. She is an awesome cook and I’m so excited to be working with her to bring you more original recipes in 2015.

Alright, enough talking. Let’s get to the good stuff…

Ingredients:

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk // 1 tsp vanilla // 1 tsp salt

You’ll also need:

Slow cooker // 2 half-pint mason jars and lids, sanitized // Mortar and pestle // Wood cutting board or towel

Instructions:

1. Grind the salt with the mortar and pestle to achieve a superfine grain.

2. Divide the sweetened condensed milk evenly and add to the mason jars. Repeat with the vanilla and salt.

3. Screw the lids onto the jars, sealing tightly. Invert the jars and shake to mix well.

4. Place the jars in the slow cooker and fill the slow cooker with water. Make sure to cover the tops of the jars with at least 1 inch of water.

5. Turn the slow cooker on low heat and cook overnight (for 8 to 12 hours) until desired level of caramelization is achieved.

6. Turn off the slow cooker and let the water cool for an hour. Remove the jars and place on a wood cutting board or towel to cool completely. Be careful – the water stays pretty warm! And, because the jars are glass, you want to be careful not to let them touch anything cold (to avoid breaking the glass).

This recipe yields 1.25 cups of caramel sauce, which is exactly the amount that you need for the salted caramel ice cream (which we’ll be sharing a recipe for next week). The sauce can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Note: If you want to thin the sauce a bit to easily pour it onto a cake, mix a splash of half an half or heavy cream and whisk.

Recipe and baking by Linda Jednaszewski (adapted from Foodie with Family)
Styling and photography by Brittni Mehlhoff

For about $4 worth of ingredients, you can dress up a store bought cake with this salty sweet sauce. Or use it for milkshakes, cookies, even in your morning coffee. Yum!

Think you’ll give this recipe a try for cakes, cookies, or coffee?