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One Ingredient Caramel: The Science Behind Condensed Milk

March 30, 2019 by Ryann-Rebecca

This post may contain Amazon affiliate links which means that if you click on the link and make a purchase I'll earn a small commision at no added cost to you

Salted Caramel

Did you know you can make caramel with only one ingredient? Well, two if you include salt. You can make this One Ingredient Caramel in your slow cooker. Drop a can in, cover it with water, and walk away. How easy is that?

The Science Behind Condensed Milk

Making condensed milk is an oddly tricky process.  Patents for preserving milk date back to the early 1800s, but the method was revolutionized by Gail Borden in 1856.  Now the story (probably rather folksy) goes something like this: when Borden sailed from London to the United States the cows got seasick, stopped producing milk, and the infants starved to death.  I’m not clear why it was the cows’ responsibilities to feed the infants and not the mothers’, but let’s roll with it. Maybe the mothers felt seasick too.

At any rate, Borden wanted to find a way to preserve milk in a sterile, safe fashion.  He discovered that milk is predominantly water. This is where the tricky part comes in.  You cannot simply boil milk to reduce it to a condensed form. The heat causes permanent changes to the protein and fat, which works wonderfully well for puddings and caramel, but not so well for keeping the milk intact.

The answer lies in the realms of physics and chemistry.  Water boils at approximately 212°F at sea level. In case you’ve forgotten your high school chemistry, water is made up of hydrogen and oxygen molecules, which move around.  When you apply heat to these molecules, they begin to wiggle and squirm faster, like a bunch of toddlers eating sugar.

Water Molecules

Now imagine that these toddlers start arm wrestling.  When they first start the game, they are evenly matched.  They apply the same amount of pressure to each other and their arms don’t move.  As the sugar high starts to kick in for one of the kids, he gets more energy, applies more pressure, and pushes the other kid’s arm down.

You can think of the boiling point of water as the point when one toddler wins the arm wrestling match.  (I know, it’s a weird analogy but bear with me). Water molecules “fight” with the surrounding air molecules, each applying equal pressure to the other.  Adding heat to water gives the molecules energy, which causes them to move faster and apply pressure to the air molecules. Water becomes steam when the water pressure is greater than the atmospheric pressure.

Evaporating Water

Now I told you that, so you’ll understand this:  Borden discovered the secret to condensing milk. He boiled the milk in a vacuum.  Vacuums lack atmospheric pressure. The milk does not need nearly as much energy (aka heat) for the water content to boil.  Since the water boils off at a lower temperature, the protein and fat content of the milk remains unchanged.

Nifty, huh?

How to Make Caramel from Condensed Milk

Since condensed milk uses sugar as a preservative, it actually makes a lovely dulce de leche, or caramel.  And it’s incredibly easy to make. Take the label off of the can and boil the can for a few hours. This works for condensed milk made with dairy or coconut milk.

While you absolutely can do this on the stove, I’d highly recommend using a crock pot.  Either way, you need to make sure the can is completely covered with water at all times.  Remember that pressure thing we were talking about earlier? It really comes into play here.  If you don’t keep the can covered, it will explode.

Slow Cooker Caramel

Fortunately, my caramel did not explode but I can only assume that hot flying caramel hurts when it hits you.

If you use a crock pot, you don’t have to worry about the water evaporating quite as rapidly.  For a soft caramel sauce, cook on low for 10-12 hours. For a firmer caramel, cook on low for 20-24 hours.

When it’s ready, take it out of the crockpot, let it cool, open it and enjoy.  I have a few ideas for how you can use your caramel. Each of the following recipes uses one can of condensed milk, a bag of chocolate chips, sea salt, plus a few added ingredients.

What to do with One Ingredient Caramel

Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies

First up, we have Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies.  Any very thin cookie will work, but I chose rice thins.  Spread melted chocolate on one cookie, caramel on another, smush them together.  Drizzle chocolate on top and dust with sea salt. Simple but good.

Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel Cups

Next up, we have Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel Cups.  Silicone muffin liners are super helpful here, but traditional paper ones might work as well.  Place a dab of melted chocolate into each liner, top with a pretzel, peanut butter/powdered sugar mixture, and caramel.  Fill it the rest of the way up with chocolate. Top the cups off with sea salt.

They remind me a bit of Take 5 candy bars, but in Reese’s form.

Caramel Pretzel Bark

How about a simple chocolate bark?  Spread melted chocolate chips onto parchment paper, cover it with broken pretzels, drizzle caramel over the top, and of course, sprinkle it with sea salt.  Place the bark in the fridge to cool, then break it into pieces.

Are you seeing a pattern yet?

Chocolate Covered Caramel

I saved the most involved recipe for last.  For Chocolate Caramel Candies, you really need a chocolate mold like this one.  Place a very small amount of melted chocolate into each mold, add a cube of caramel, some salt, then top off with chocolate.

You can always drizzle caramel over any of your favorite foods. Go on, I won’t judge. Try it over some Black Bean Brownie Truffles!

Each of the One Ingredient Caramel recipes is listed below, but you can also download my PDF, which has each of the candy recipes on one page.

Caramel RecipesDownload

Please share on your favorite social media site!!!

One Ingredient Caramel

Category: Dessert

One Ingredient Caramel

Ingredients

    Base Ingredients
  • 1 Can Condensed Milk, Dairy or Coconut, 7 oz
  • 1 Bag Chocolate Chips, Regular or Vegan, 10 oz
  • Sea Salt
    Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies – Makes 30 Sandwiches
  • 2 Packages Rice Thins (30 thins each)
    Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel Cups – Makes ~20 Cups
  • Pretzels, Heart Shaped
  • 1 Cup Peanut Butter
  • ½ Cup Powdered Sugar
    Pretzel Caramel Bark
  • Pretzels, Broken
    Chocolate Covered Caramels – Makes 30-40
  • No additional ingredients needed

Instructions

    Base Directions
  1. Remove the label from the condensed milk. Shake the can well then place it in the slow cooker and cover with water. Make sure you have at least two inches of water over the top of the can.
  2. For soft caramel sauce, cook on low for 10-12 hours. For firm caramel, cook on low for 20-24 hours.
  3. Remove from the slow cooker. Pour the caramel into a wax paper lined baking tin and allow it to cool.
  4. Pour the chocolate chips in a microwavable bowl. Heat in 10-30 second increments, stirring in between until the chocolate is melted. If it starts to harden while making any of these recipes, pop it back in the microwave for a few more seconds.
    Chocolate Caramel Sandwich Cookies Directions
  1. Spread a layer of chocolate on half of the rice thins, and a layer of caramel on the other half
  2. Pair the rice thins to make a sandwich
  3. Drizzle melted chocolate over the sandwiches and sprinkle with sea salt
    Peanut Butter Caramel Pretzel Cups
  1. Mix the peanut butter and powdered sugar together. Spread the mixture onto wax or parchment paper so that it’s about ½” thick. Freeze for ~5 minutes.
  2. Line a muffin tin with cupcake liners. Drop 1 -1 ½ tsp. of melted chocolate in each liner. Tap the tin on the counter to spread the chocolate
  3. Place a pretzel in each
  4. Cut circles out of the peanut butter and caramel and place a circle of each on top of the pretzels
  5. Fill the liner with chocolate
    Pretzel Caramel Bark
  1. Spread the chocolate in a thin layer onto wax or parchment paper
  2. Sprinkle the broken pretzels on top
  3. Drizzle caramel over the top and sprinkle with sea salt
    Chocolate Covered Caramels
  1. Place a small amount of chocolate into the bottom of a chocolate mold. You want just enough to cover the bottom.
  2. Sprinkle a bit of sea salt in each mold.
  3. Add a cube of caramel. The cube should take up most of the mold but leave a small gap between the sides of the mold and the caramel.
  4. Fill the mold with chocolate. Gently tap the molds on the counter to get rid of bubbles.

Notes

You’ll need the base ingredients for each individual recipe.

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References

  • The Surprisingly Complicated Physics of Condensed Milk by Esther Inglis-Arkell
  • Evaporated and Condensed Milk by How Products Are Made
  • Condensed Milk by Science Direct

Filed Under: Recipes, Vegan, Vegetarian Tagged With: Caramel, Condensed Milk, Dessert

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Grandmother

    March 31, 2019 at 10:44 am

    my favorite caramel candy : Turtles!! three pecan halves topped with caramel topped with melted chocolate.

    • Ryann-Rebecca

      March 31, 2019 at 11:01 am

      That’s a great idea!

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