Dulce de leche. Latin America’s answer to caramel.
Dulce de leche ice cream. My answer to everything.
Adding toasted coconut to dulce de leche ice cream? Well now, that’s just my being a f’ing genius, that’s all.
I am always suprised that people don’t actually knwhat deluce de leche is…
Ok, b-tch…what is it?
Dulce de leche is a milk and sugar based caramel. Basically you cook sweetened condensed milk, which is milk and sugar combined already, until the sugars caramelize. That’s it. Really f’ing it.
Why turn it into ice cream?
Because is it super delicious. Which sounds like an obvious answer, so I will give you another. Dulce de leche ice cream isn’t too sweet, it is very subtle and has a nice hint of vanilla. Dulce de leche ice cream is SUPER creamy. Using this instead of caramel ensures no graininess from any sugar because acutally, you aren’t using sugar. You’re using caramelized sweetened condensed milk. This results in an ice cream that is smooth, rich and creamy AF.
Do I have to make my own dulce de leche? And is it hard to make?
You absolutely do not have to make your own, they sell cans of it in every single grocery I have ever been to in the last 8+ years. You can also get fancy dulce de leche like this, which I have also had and it is delicious. Does it taste better? Yeah, and it not as thick as the cans from the grocery store (but also not as painful on your wallet either).
You can make your own though if you so desire. And you can find directions on how to here.
And while you certainly don’t have to add the toasted coconut, you most defintiely want to. The unsweetened stuff, not the fake sweet shit. It just get folded right in and adds a toasty element to the entire treat.
Oh yeah and last thing – this does require an ice cream maker. Don’t have one and don’t know where to start? Don’t worry, read this, where I talk all about ice cream makers and why you should have one.
Dulce de leche ice cream
Ingredients
- 2 cups whole milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 2 14 ounce cans of dulce de leche if making your own, you will need about 1 3/4 cups
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup of toasted UNSWEETENED shredded coconut
Instructions
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Slowly simmer the milk and cream in saucepan over medium heat, bringing it just up to a boil. Remove from heat and whisk in the dulce de leche until fully combined. Whisk in vanilla and salt and transfer to a bowl. Cover and chill completely at least four hours, but I always chill overnight.
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Put the cold mixture into your ice cream maker, and let it do it's magic. When it is nearly firm, fold in the toasted coconut. Pack into freezer safe containers and freeze until firm.
