When temperatures are soaring or you just feel like having ice cream, my Dulce de Leche Sundae is just the treat you need!
Somethings never change no matter now old you get. And you know what, I think that’s pretty awesome.
For example, I will always enjoy annoying my little sister. Always have, always will. I will also always cry during sad movie previews. Can’t help it, I’m a huge sap! I will always get excited butterflies in my stomach when going to the airport. Even though I’ve been to the airport about a million times, that feeling of excitement and adventure will never leave me.
So many things in life never change. Even though technically we are suppose to evolve, get older and more mature, I don’t really think we change that much. 90% of the time I still feel like that little girl 20 years ago just going through life trying to have fun and figure it all out along the way.
What got me thinking about this recently was dulce de leche. Sounds weird but true.
Growing up in South America, dulce de leche (literally means sweetened milk) is our version of caramel, except better. OH YES I WENT THERE. It’s a thick gooey sweet and delicious milky moisture that brings me back to my childhood instantly.
I remember living in Caracas as a kid where they used to sell these little tubes, kind of like mini toothpaste size, of dulce de leche. I rarely got’em, but on the special occasion my mom bought one for me… OMG! It was basically the best moment of my life. Squeezing all that dulce de leche deliciousness in my mouth! Heaven.
I also remember, my mom making desserts with this stuff, which meant I got first dibs on licking the bowl when she was done! Looking back I’m pretty much the designated bowl -icker in my family whether it’s cookie dough or cake batter or dulce de leche. HA the rest of my family are suckers … more for me 😜
So to bring back a little bit of my childhood to a fun and refreshing summer treat, I decided to make Dulce de Leche Sundaes!
Creamy vanilla ice cream
Homemade dulce de leche
Crunchy toasted coconut flakes
Crushed cookies
Do you hear the ice cream gods singing???? I do. I mean look at this thing…c’mon.
And like almost everything I make, it’s super easy. You know I’m not going to spend hours making a dessert. I got things to do and crazy toddlers to chase.
The dulce de leche is a cinch to make, really! It’s as easy as opening a can or opening the oven. Once you have your delicious milky sauce made, you toast some coconut, scoop some ice cream, crumble some cookies and drizzle on the good stuff. Any leftover dulce de leche is fabulous over pancakes, waffles, french toast, pound cake, yellow cake or as a fruit dip.
I give you a Latin American inspired dessert that will WOW the pants off anyone yet is secretly EASY PEASY!
4 sundaes
Ingredients
- 1 can (12 ounce) sweetened condensed milk
- sprinkle of salt
- 1 pint vanilla ice cream (gluten free if desired)
- ½ cup coconut flakes, toasted
- 8 Nilla wafers or graham crackers, crushed (use gluten free cookie if desired)
Instructions
- Preheat oven 425F.
- Empty the sweetened condensed milk into an oven-proof dish; sprinkle with some salt and tightly cover it with foil. I used a glass loaf pan, but a pie dish works too!
- Place the covered dish in a larger roasting or casserole pan and fill it up with water until it reaches roughly 3/4 of the way up the covered dish to create a water bath.
- Bake for 60-90 minutes checking every 30 minutes on the water level and adding more as needed. Mine took about 1 hour.
- Dulce de leche will be ready when it looks brown and caramel-like. Carefully remove from the oven and whisk to smooth out. Let cool before storing in a jar with a lid.
- To assemble sundaes: Toast coconut flakes on a skillet over medium heat until fragrant and golden brown. This will only take a few minutes so keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t burn. Remove from pan immediately.
- Scoop ice cream into 4 cups or small bowls, crumble cookies for texture, sprinkle toasted coconut flakes and drizzle warm dulce de leche on top.
Notes
To add extra texture, nilla wafers, graham crackers or any standard crisp cookie would work. Dulce de Leche will save in a covered jar for up to 3 weeks in the fridge or frozen if needed. Dulce de leche can be warmed up on low in the microwave or on the stovetop in a sauce pan with water. Uncover jar, and gently cook in a water bath. When the dulce de leche is cold and thick, it’s perfect to spread on bananas, apples, sweet breads (like banana or zucchini) or even toast.
Dulce de leche recipe slightly adapted from Bakers Royale.
Originally posted 2017-07-17 06:00:00.
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