Dulce de leche!!!!!!

In a can.  Doesn’t sound the most classy but I feel VERY good about this method.  And by method I mean you just boil a can of sweetened condensed milk and it becomes dulce de leche.  That’s right.  If you can boil water (and I know you can because I know you eat mac and cheese) then you can make dulce de leche.  You just HAVE to make sure the can is always fully covered with water.

Covered with water = beautiful, delicious dulce de leche that can be converted into the below cheesecake

Not covered with water = EXPLOSION! Sweetened condensed milk sugary tar will cover your entire kitchen and make you curse the day you ever came on this website

 

 

Dulce de Leche Recipe:

You’ll need:

1 can sweetened condensed milk

 

Bring a large pot of water to a boil. It needs to have a ton of water in there (enough to cover the can completely).

Remove the label (yep) from the can and place it into the boiling water. Make sure you place the can on its side.

Cook the can for 3 hours, making sure the can is covered with water at all times. This means you are going to have to check on it and add more water when necessary (I just added very hot tap water occasionally).

Remove the can and place it onto a heatproof surface to cool.  It HAS to be fully cooled before you open the can.  If you try to open it early it will absolutely explode.  You’ve been warned.

Now you have dulce de leche! Magic.  On to putting it into cheesecake….which is SO SO SO great.

 

 

 

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Bars

Inspired by Bon Appetit

You’ll need:

2.25 cups finely ground graham crackers (from 17 whole graham crackers)

2 tablespoons sugar

0.25 teaspoon ground cinnamon

10 tablespoons melted butter

3 8-ounce packages cream cheese, room temperature

1 cup sugar

3 large eggs

0.75 cup dulce de leche (*see recipe above or if you’re feeling lazy you can purchase already made dulce de leche)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/3 cup hazelnuts

Flaked sea salt

Preheat oven to 350°F. Grease a 13 x 9 x 2-inch baking pan. Mix graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and cinnamon in medium bowl. Add melted butter; stir until coated. Transfer crumb mixture to pan. Press evenly onto bottom of pan. Bake until crust is light golden, about 10 minutes. Cool completely on rack.

Blend cream cheese and sugar until smooth and creamy, about 1 minute, stopping occasionally to scrape down sides of bowl. Add eggs 1 at a time. Add 0.5 cup dulce de leche and vanilla; mix until blended. Spread batter evenly over cooled crust. Bake until just set in center and edges are puffed and slightly cracked, about 38 minutes. Transfer to rack; cool completely.

Roughly chop hazelnuts and mix with a little extra (0.25 cup) dulce de leche. Cut cheesecake into squares (I trim off the sides so I can get all my pieces to look identical).  Top each with a little pile (a teaspoon) of the dulce de leche hazelnuts.  Sprinkle bars with sea salt.