That feeling when you find a brilliant cake recipe and want to make it right here, right now, but it calls for condensed milkβ¦Β
Sometimes I think that if I got a euro every time I find an interesting recipe that asks for condensed milk, which of course I don't have and have to run to the shop for, I would be a millionaire by now π All right, maybe I'm exaggerating a little, but the feeling really is irritating, because on those lazy days when you want that cake most of all, I am sitting in a dressing gown and slippers with an uncovered spot and hair that is begging to be washed, praying that nobody rings the doorbell. Never mind going to the shopβ¦ π
But but, good news! Perhaps belatedly, but better late than never β I worked out how to make sweetened condensed milk at home! And I have my fingers crossed that this super simple recipe reaches every layabout like me. π
The best part is that condensed milk takes just 2 ingredients to make! Isn't that wonderful? Of course, if you want a more distinctive flavour, a teaspoon of vanilla paste is your best friend. You can also add a teaspoon of butter if you want a richer, creamier sweetened condensed milk (but I really didn't need it). P.S. going off on a slight tangent, I want to say that before posting recipes I always run a quick Google for similar Lithuanian ones (just so recipes don't get repeated), and I had to laugh when I saw that all the recipes have different milk-to-sugar ratios, and yet every single cook adds 20g of butter.π As though one cook came up with it and all the others copied without understanding what the butter is for or whether it is needed at all. So as not to load my own recipes with unnecessary ingredients, I deliberately checked every packet of sweetened condensed milk in Lithuanian supermarkets β not one of them had butter in the ingredients, which confirmed once again that it isn't needed here in the slightest. Save that butter for a sandwich. π
This recipe gives you milk that is 1:1 with the shop-bought kind. If you want a deeper creamy colour β cook it longer; if you are after something like the tinned version β it takes about 35 minutes. If you want the equivalent of one tin, you will need to double the recipe. In an airtight container the milk keeps for a couple of weeks or more. Shall we give it a go?π
