Homemade dulce de leche. Cheating

"Even the story of Dulce the Leche is somewhat clouded by myths and legends. The story dates back to the Buenos Aires province of Canuelas. two opposing forces were on the brink of ending a war. General Lavalle and General Manuel de Rosas met in order to make a treat. General Lavalle fell asleep at General de Rosas"s camp whilst waiting for him to arrive. There was a lady preparing the lechada or boiled milk with sugar, for the soldiers but she didn't know about the treat between the two men. When she saw General Rosas arrived (the enemy), she ran out of the tent to get soldiers The General Rosas managed to stop her but by then, in the middle of the chaos, the lechada was dark brown jelly.
It is said that a hungry soldier tried the substance, the result of which, the Dulce the Leche was born"
-Paragraph from  bsas4U.com-

My souvenir from Buenos Aires

It comes with me everywhere I go

When I was little and my dad still lived with us, I remember him making dulce de leche. He always made things from the scratch, hence my way of cooking. Nowadays is available in most supermarkets (although I haven't found it in Manila yet).
Once I moved to Argentina and my daughter Aurelia turned one in May 2008, I was so excited about the birthday (you are less when you have more kids, I don't know why) and the alfajores and Dulce de Leche that I had this "great" idea of making my own one and use it in little jars, as a give away gifts with a cute note saying "Gracias por venir a mi fiesta" (Thanks for coming to my party").
The theory was to boil milk with sugar, low heat, for a couple of hours and stirring now and then. The practice was different, it was a very loooooonnng day. I don't know how many hours I spent in the kitchen with my yaya making the maldito Dulce de Leche. We finally got 7 small jars, not enough for all the children of the party. They were quite disappointed with the "surprise" bag. "You better appreciate it, kid!", I thought. their mums had a question mark in the face.

It was a total disaster and since then, I cheat.

Making dulce de leche

1. Pierce the top of a can of condensed milk in two places. I suggest to buy a big one if you are going through the  hassle.
2. Place it in simmering water, being careful the water doesn't come the top of the can.
3. You can relax now because it will take at least three or four hours. Make sure you refill the pot with hot water when it is evaporating.
4. How do you know it is done? when you move the can with some thongs and no liquid is coming out of the holes pierced in the can.

Dulce de leche

Nari biscuits with Dulce de Leche for merienda

Notes:

• There are many ways you can use the Dulce de Leche. I just made a flan with the same recipe I gave you in one of my posts but swapping the condense milk with Dulce de Leche.
• Add it to ice cream, biscuits, bread, cheese cake...
• My mexican friend cooks the can in high heat so it takes only 2 hours. You can try to do it and send me a comment! She also knows someone grandma in her Mexico that makes the dulce de leche with a can in the pressure cooker. I won't try this method, it sounds too dangerous but if you had, please, let me know!
• How to sterilise glass jars and their lids:
• Wash them throughly with soap and allow to dry on a clean tea towel.
• Preheat the oven to its lowest setting, then place the jars and lids on a try and heat in the oven for 30 minutes.