Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche in Jars {no cans}

I remember the first time I heard about making dulce de leche from sweetened condensed milk in the can. I know you all have probably heard of it; put a can of unopened sweetened condensed milk in a pan, cover with water and simmer for 3 hours. Of course I had to try it. That was absolutely mandatory. I was blown away by the thick, sweet, utterly perfect caramel that came from such a lazy cooking method. Score and a half!

As time went on, I had a couple of concerns pop into my head about this method. There were people who had experienced exploding cans while simmering. Whether the water level had dropped too low or the pressure had been to great in the can or whatever, the fact remained that those cans EXPLODED. Eek. And as I gave it more thought, I was more than just a little bit concerned that whatever the lining of the can, it wasn’t intended as a long, slow-cooking vessel and might be leeching unpleasant things into my lovely caramel. The draw of making caramel that easily was pretty hard to resist, though, so I decided to make one using the same methodology, minus the very real explosive and less clear chemical risks…

I realized that there was an additional advantage to taking out and re-housing the contents of the cans of sweetened condensed milk beyond the lack of potential shrapnel and chemical mutation; I could infuse my caramel with flavours. I started with today’s variation and simply split and scraped a vanilla bean into each jar before filling with regular old sweetened condensed milk. A lid was screwed in place, the jars were positioned in my slow-cooker, water was poured to cover the jars by an inch, the lid was popped into place and the whole shebang cooked for 8 hours on low while I slept. When I turned off the slow cooker in the morning, I removed the lid and let the jars rest in the water until it returned to room temperature. A couple of hours later, when I could comfortably stick my hands into the water to pull out the jars (because you can be darned sure I wasn’t experimenting with one dinky little jar of heavenly dulce de leche. Go BIG!) I was rewarded by seeing a gorgeous brown Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche inside the jars.

I stuffed two jars (like I said, GO BIG!) in the refrigerator and opened the remaining jar to sample my wares. Perfect, thick, luscious, velvety, caramel was my reward. The boys grabbed from our freshly acquired bushel of Western New York’s best fall apples, I sliced, and we all dipped and dunked Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche until we couldn’t any more. Even the no fruit twosome happily put aside their usual aversions to lick vanilla-scented, creamy caramel from crisp apple slices.

Is this the perfect caramel apple dip? Oh my, yes. Don’t forget, though, that it’s also wonderful in ANY dessert calling for caramel or dulce de leche. Use as a filler between cake layers, cookies, on ice cream, stirred into hot chai or coffee or cocoa, or simply convey to mouth with spoon; whichever way you eat it, you’ll be so glad you did!

Cook’s Notes

• Yes… This is safer than cooking in a can. Why? A) a can is lined with a substance designed to keep the contents from reacting with the metal of the can, but that lining also contains chemicals that aren’t meant to be heated for long, long periods of time like you do when you make dulce de leche IN the can. Besides that, B) Most canners will tell you that when a jar breaks, the bottom breaks away and things slowly bubble and ooze out into the water around the jar. Is that a bummer? Heck yes, but it’s a lot safer than the contents of a sealed can pressurizing and going KABLOOEY! I’ll take my chances with the jar that has a couple of week points that are almost like safeguards.
• I mentioned the infusion of the Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche with different flavours. I used a vanilla bean for my recipe, but I can imagine a tablespoon of bourbon or rum wouldn’t be misplaced here, either! Maybe some cardamom or cinnamon? Go wild! Tell me what you do with YOUR Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche!
• If you leave the lid on the jar, rinse it to clean it, and pop it straight into the refrigerator, this caramel should keep well for at least two weeks. I have not tried freezing it, so I can’t speak to whether it stores well that way. Educated guesswork tells me that you’d probably want to scoop some out (directly into mouth, if you’re wise) before freezing to allow room for expansion. If you try, do let me know how it works for you!

Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche in Jars {no cans}

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Rebecca Lindamood

Prep Time 5 minutes mins

Cook Time 8 hours hrs

Total Time 8 hours hrs 5 minutes mins

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Is this the perfect caramel apple dip? Oh my, yes. Don't forget, though, that it's also wonderful in ANY dessert calling for caramel or dulce de leche. Use as a filler between cake layers, cookies, on ice cream, stirred into hot chai or coffee or cocoa, or simply convey to mouth with spoon; whichever way you eat it, you'll be so glad you did!

Ingredients

  

1x2x3x

Per Batch of Slow-Cooker No-Stir Dulce de Leche in Jars:

• 1 can sweetened condensed milk 14-16 ounces
• 1 half of a vanilla bean split and scraped, seeds and pod reserved
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 pint sized canning jar with a clean two-piece lid

Additional equipment needed:

• 1 slow cooker deep enough to hold lidded pint sized canning jars topped with at least an inch of water.

Instructions

 

• Add the split and scraped vanilla pod and seeds to a clean pint canning jar. Open the can of sweetened condensed milk and pour it into the jar, scraping the can to be sure to get all of the sweetened condensed milk. Add the pinch of salt. Screw the lid in place to fingertip tightness, then slowly invert and turn the jar right-side-up several times. Put the jar(s) in the slow-cooker and add hot tap water to the slow-cooker to cover the jars by an inch. Place the lid on the slow-cooker, set to LOW and let it cook for 8 to 12 hours. When the cooking time is up, turn off the slow-cooker, remove the lid, and let it stand undisturbed until the water reaches room temperature. Rinse the jar(s), refrigerate, and use within 2 weeks!

Nutrition

Calories: 183kcalCarbohydrates: 31gProtein: 4gFat: 5gSaturated Fat: 3gCholesterol: 19mgSodium: 72mgPotassium: 210mgSugar: 30gVitamin A: 150IUVitamin C: 1.5mgCalcium: 161mgIron: 0.1mg

Nutritional information is an estimate and provided to you as a courtesy. You should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe using your preferred nutrition calculator.

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