There are two things in this world that I don't deal well with in the kitchen.... baking (which I'm constantly blaming on my oven being out of wack) and something happening to my one of my crock pots that would make it no longer usable.
After reading many online recipes for caramel dip, dulce de leche and caramel made out of canned sweetened condensed milk (which were all the same things, just with different names) I decided to do it a little differently. The reason I decided this is every recipe would mention one of two things. Either you weren't suppose to cook it in the sweetened condensed milk can (per manufacturers label-as it would be specified in the recipe) OR after removing label and cooking in can it came in it leaves a rust ring in the bottom of your crockery.
Now that I've explained what the recipes kept saying I hope you understand why I opened with the paragraph that I did. Sooooooo..... having said all of this, this is what I came up with. I always have empty canning jars in the house and knew they would stand up to the heat. I also knew that they would not leave a rust ring in the bottom of my crock pot.
I started by emptying a can of sweetened condensed milk into the clean canning jar.
Once I emptied the entire can of sweetened condensed milk into the jar I placed the flat and rim on the jar and hand tightened it. I placed the jar in the middle of a 3 quart crock pot and filled it with water. It is important that the crock pot used is deep enough so that water can completely cover the jar even if just by a quarter inch. I then placed the lid on and turned to high.
After and hour and 15 minutes I heard the lid kinda moving. I went to check on the crock pot and the water was boiling.
I let it continue boiling for 3 hours. Since my lid was glass I kept checking on it just to make sure it wasn't going to break or anything. After 3 hours I removed it from the crock pot and it was a beautiful golden color.
It looked so good that we couldn't wait for it to cool down completely to try it. I sliced a banana, an apple and opened a box of chocolate wafer cookies for dipping. We were literally dipping the items then blowing them to cool them off so we wouldn't burn our mouths.
I must say that I vow to never buy caramel dip again. This was so good and smooth that we had to make ourselves stop eating it. I can not even imagine how good this would be to use when making hot caramel sundaes (you know, like you get at the golden arches). Y'all are going to love this!
UPDATE: Pamela suggested that you put a dish cloth or dish towel under the jar so when the water is boiling it won't break. I don't know why I didn't think about this because I can at home in jars and have done this many times if I have multiple pots going with glass jars in them. Thanks for the suggestion/ reminder Pamela. Safety first!
UPDATE: Pamela suggested that you put a dish cloth or dish towel under the jar so when the water is boiling it won't break. I don't know why I didn't think about this because I can at home in jars and have done this many times if I have multiple pots going with glass jars in them. Thanks for the suggestion/ reminder Pamela. Safety first!
11 comments:
Wow! This sounds so easy I can't believe it. I dare say, I had better not try it because I think I would love it too much. Maybe I will save the recipe for the future for a really special occasion. Thank you for all your efforts to come up with this one.
I found your blog from Foodie Friday and I am so glad I did. You're now in my google reader and I hope to go back in your archives soon. No time on Foodie Friday though. This sounds wonderful.
sounds awesome, but I only have quart mason jars & don't know if either of my crock pots (3 qt & 6 qt) are tall enough to do this.....I guess I could buy some smaller mason jars....I have lots of sweetened condensed milk sitting around collecting dust
This sounds wonderful! I think we will try this tomorrow! Thanks for sharing it! One thing you might (i know it is what I will do) and that is to put a wash cloth on the bottom of the crock pot (then set your jar in and fill it up). This is how I learned do my crockpot tinctures (which are cooked in jars)this ensures that the glass jar doesn't break. I just found your blog. I am looking forward to exploring it! I DO LOVE my slowcooker! :-)
www.homeshalom.blogspot.com
Oooh, my mom has made this before and it is scrumptious! She used to just do it in the can, but found out that it wasn't safe to do it that way. It is truly divine!
Came by from Recipe Swap Thursday and can't believe how simple this is to make. I can't wait to try it!
We did try this and it is hit in our family. (That means it made our family cookbook!) Next week I am doing a little crock pot topic for one of my linkies and I am going to link your blog, so others can come as see what wonderful things you have going on here! Blessings! I'm "following" you now. :-)
Thanks Mommy Set Free! I'm so glad y'all loved it as much as we did. I'm also glad you're going to share Crock Pot Recipe Exchange on your blog. I believe you can't have too many crock pot recipes.
Wow that looks good and easy too! Thanks for sharing!
Honoring The King
Hi. I just ran across your homemade 'star crunch' recipe, and I have a question - When you pull the canning jars of caramel out of the crockpot, are they sealed and safe to store on a shelf? (Like tomatoes or beans, etc., after the canning process.)
After you bring it out of the crock pot it will cool and make the infamous "ping" that canned goods do. However, I would not recommend storing it on the shelf or say it was shelf stable. I would say it would be safe to store in the fridge for 7 - 10 days. This recipe was not intended (or any other of my crock pot recipes cooked in canning jars recipes) for preservation.
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