Caramel… The Chilean way.

 In Chile, well at least in my Chilean family, homemade caramel is a must have. You can of course buy caramel flavouring in the supermarket but real caramel is best made from Nestles’ condensed milk. You might see Nestlé’s tinned caramel, as it is stocked in limited supermarkets but it doesn’t taste as good as the one you make yourself. Making caramel is simple:

Place a medium sized pot on the stove, fill it with water and bring to the boil. Once the water is boiled, place two tins of Nestlé’s condensed milk in the water, ensuring that the water covers the tins entirely (the paper must be removed from the outside of the tins). The tins need to simmer in boiling water for 1 hour and 20 minutes. It is very important that every 20 minutes you top up the water, as it will slowly evaporate. The tins must be covered with water at all times, or you run the risk that the tins might explode. The easy solution to this is to set a timer to remind you every 20 minutes. When topping up use boiled water from the kettle. After 1 hour and 20 minutes your caramel is cooked. Turn off the stove and remove them from the water, then let them cool (put it in the fridge to speed up this process.) Once cooled the caramel is ready to eat!

There are many ways you can eat the caramel. (Keeping in mind that there are no healthy options) I have a couple of favourites:  

-       Straight from the tin on a spoon

-       On toast, waffles or pancakes

-       Dip chocolate into the tin        

In Chile caramel is used in many (very complicated to make) cakes. A simple way to eat caramel though is on Alfajores. These are simple biscuits, which the caramel is sandwiched between. The following recipe is taken from my Grandma’s cookbook, a book she wrote filled with Chilean recipes that she spent years writing, collecting and compiling for the family. The Recipe:

Ingredients:

4 egg yolks

¾ cup plain flour

1 ½ tablespoons of Pisco or brandy.

In a bowl, and using a fork, mix the egg yolks with the pisco or brandy then add the flour mixing well to make soft dough. Turn dough onto a floured surface, lightly knead and roll out very thin. With a fork prick all over then cut rounds of 4.5cm diameter. Place on a baking tray and bake in a hot oven (200 degrees) for approximately 6 – 8 minutes. When cool sandwich together with caramel and enjoy!  

For those who haven’t heard of it before pisco is a very popular alcohol in Chile, most commonly used in a drink called a pisco sour (I’ll have the recipe in my next post). It is available for purchase in Australia.


Anyway that’s it from me, good luck cooking and enjoy!!