Milk Candy (Mexican Cajeta)

In Mexico, this sweet confection is known as cajeta and in other Spanish speaking countries, it is called dulce de leche. Dulce de leche means "milk candy". But it's not an actual candy, it's more like a milk caramel sauce. The term "dulce de leche" is made with regular cow's milk. It's also more commonly called this in central and Southern Latin American countries. This recipe produces a sauce that's suitable for applications such as spooning over ice cream or sliced bananas or stirring into coffee. To produce a stiffer confection that's thick enough to spread between cake layers or sandwich between cookies, continue to cook the cajeta, stirring constantly to prevent scorching, until it's reduced to 2 cups. If you substitute cow's milk for goat's milk in this recipe, it may curdle slightly toward the end of cooking, but you can easily restore the smooth consistency by processing the cajeta in a blender or buzzing it with an immersion blender.

8 cups goat's milk
2 cups sugar (14 oz)
2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
¼ tsp. sea salt
1 stick cinnamon (optional)
¾ tsp. baking soda, dissolved in 1 Tbsp. water

Bring milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and stick cinnamon, if using, to boil in Dutch oven over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally with rubber spatula.

Off heat, stir in baking soda mixture (milk will start to foam). When foaming subsides, return milk mixture to boil. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer rapidly, adjusting heat as necessary to maintain rapid simmer and stirring occasionally to prevent scorching, until mixture is pale golden brown, 45 minutes to 1 hour.

Continue to cook, stirring frequently, until cajeta is caramel-coloured and heavily coats back of spoon, about 30 minutes longer. Discard stick cinnamon, if using. If desired, strain cajeta through fine-mesh strainer. Cajeta can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 months.

Makes 24 servings, or 3 cups.