Sweetened Condensed Milk

Due to high demand, I caved on the "sweets for December" theme.  I wasn't going to, because most of what you think of for Christmas are family recipes, and you all know how to cook your own family recipes!  I'm here to get you back to the basics! I'll teach you how to get away from all those cans, boxes, and fillers!  First up is Sweetened Condensed Milk.  Alot of recipes I was looking at contained it, and I wanted to know how to make it.  Then all the recipes called for Powdered milk.  If you're going to make the stuff, why bother with something EVEN MORE PROCESSED THEN THE ORIGINAL?!  So after MORE research, I FINALLY found one that is core: down to the basics.  Just like Grandma likes it!

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Sweetened Condensed Milk

Makes 2 cans

(my theory: if you're gonna make some, make some for stock, as well, saves time for later!)

Ingredients:

6 c. Milk

2 c. Sugar

*Note*  I did find a few recipes that added butter and vanilla, but I found the milk and sugar was plenty of flavor for my usage.  But, if you like, add 12 T butter 4 t. vanilla to above recipe

Directions:

1.  Combine milk and sugar into a large saute pan over med heat.  Notice the level of the milk in relation to the silver rivits on the left.

2.  DO NOT BOIL, bring to a steam

3.  My stove top is funny, so I reduced my heat to just below med, most stove tops this would be med-low

4.  NEVER BOIL, keep a low steam going at all times.  This picture is an hour in the process.  Notice the milk level at the silver rivits on the left. 

5.  Reduce by half, it took me about 2 hours.

*NOTE*  Notice the thickness of the milk in picture 4 right off the heat compared to the first picture after cooling overnight. 

Variations:

Thanks to a wonderful friend of mine, I have found out that if you steam your Sweetened Condensed Milk (my recipe, or GASP! store bought) for an additional 2 hours, you make Dulce de Leche, or caramel!

I know, your asking yourself why should I bother cooking this for 2 whole hours?! HAVE I TAUGHT YOU NOTHING?! TASTE! CHEMICALS! PRESERVATIVES!  Yes, I know its 2 hours.  But you are not staring at the damn thing.  Just make sure you don't scald (READ: BURN!) the milk and you can basically forget about it.  This freezes nicely.  Put it in Mason jars, use in the fridge in 1 week, in the freezer for 6 months, if it will last that long!  And who doesn't know about 30 recipes with Sweetened Condensed Milk?! You don't know any?  Well, stay tuned, ladies and gentleman.....;)