Saturday, September 26, 2009

Easy Homemade Caramel

We had had two cans of sweetened condensed milk sitting in our pantry without a purpose for far too long. Yesterday afternoon we pulled out a stock pot and set about making our own caramel. It's really very easy: remove the labels from the cans, keep the cans fully submerged with roughly 2 inches of water over the tops (be sure to maintain this depth to prevent the cans from exploding) and maintain a low boil for 4 hours. Let the cans cool completely in the fridge then pop them open and enjoy the creamy result. Steve put some in his coffee and I made a small batch of caramel popcorn. That hasn't made a dent in our supply though, we're brainstorming ways to use the rest. Right now caramel apples and dunked chocolate pretzel rods are topping our list. Mmmmm.

3 comments:

Margaret said...

I love doing this! You might want to clarify, though, that the can needs to be fully submerged in water, with two inches of water on top -- just to make sure people understand that it will explode if it's not completely covered with water.

Still, it's so absurdly easy -- and tasty. I love the pretzel idea, and the caramel apples, and I'll put in another vote for millionaire's shortbread; it was everywhere in Scotland, and I didn't mind that one bit. Heh.

I think I have a can of the stuff in my pantry, too...better get cracking!

Jen said...

OH HO HO! I want to be at your house.

(...though that's generally true, anyway.)

mellanie said...

check out my friend's blog (just bcauz). she posted a recipe that includes caramel. thought u might be interested.