Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche

Later this week I’m going to share an ah-maz-ing cookie recipe that taste like a Twix bar! In order to pull it all together you’re going to need some dulce de leche, which is basically a fancy name for the best caramel sauce ever.

Like a lot of things in life, there is more than one way to make dulce de leche. Many methods use just a can of sweetened condensed milk, like this and this. Both of those recipes seem really easy and I’m sure yield excellent results. But, it’s just not that easy to find cans of sweetened condensed milk in Suzhou. Plus, I really loved the idea of using vanilla bean. Decadent dulce de leche with flecks of vanilla bean? Yes, please!

The good news is, even though there are just a few more ingredients to this, it’s still an easy recipe. The hardest part is being patient and waiting for it to turn that trademark deep, dark, golden brown.

Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche

Ingredients
1 quart (4 cups) whole milk
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 vanilla bean, split and seeds scraped
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

Directions
In a 4-quart sauce pan, over medium heat, combine the milk, sugar, and vanilla bean (including seeds and the bean). Bring to a simmer and cook until sugar as dissolved, stirring occasionally. Sprinkle with baking soda and stir to combine. Reduce the heat to low and continue to cook, uncovered, at a very low simmer for 1 hour. After 1 hour, remove the vanilla bean and stir, but do not reincorporate any foam that forms. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally until deep golden brown. About 1 1/2-2 hours. Strain through a mesh strainer. Refrigerate in a sealed container for up to a month.

Adapted from Alton Brown via Food Network