Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche

As promised, here is the recipe and directions for the Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche I made and used in the cookies for Tuesdays with Dorie. I modified the recipe liberally from one by Nigella Lawson, using more vanilla to milk/sugar ratio in mine. I really wanted that vanilla flavor to come through and it really does.

This DDL is fantastic in cookies, but our favorite way to use it is to just scoop it up with apple slices to our little hearts' content. I hope if you try the recipe, you'll let me know how it goes. I've tried other recipes before and had them fail on me, mainly because I think I gave up too soon when the mixture didn't seem to be thickening or darkening within the time I thought it should. I persisted this time and finally got the results I wanted, and here you go!

Vanilla Bean Dulce de Leche

Adapted from Nigella Lawson

Half gallon whole milk

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1 vanilla bean, split and scraped

½ teaspoon baking soda

In a large pan, bring the milk to a boil. Once it has boiled, use a fine mesh strainer to sieve the milk into a very large pan. The dulce de leche mixture will boil and climb like crazy, so choose a really large pan.

In the large pan, add the sugar and vanilla bean, split lengthwise and scraped, into the pan. Add the baking soda and stir with a wooden spoon to combine. Over medium-high heat, bring the mixture back to a boil – there will be a lot of foaming so stay close by to stir. As soon as the mixture starts to boil it will start to thicken.

Stir the mixture occasionally with the wooden spoon so that the mixture doesn’t stick to the bottom of the pan. I think that heat temperature, as well as altitude can play a real factor in how long it takes to get the mixture to the darkness and consistency you want. I have read several recipes that say to cook it for about 1 hours to 1 ½ hours. It took me closer to three hours, but I didn’t give up and the mixture finally did darken and thicken the way I wanted, so just don’t give up!

When the mixture reaches close to the darkness you want, take the pan off the heat and place it in a sink filled with cold water to cool it down. Store the dulce de leche in clean jars in the refrigerator.

Yields 3-4 cups

TWD: Dulce de Leche Duos

Well, with my darling Miss K. here in our lives it seems that all I seem to manage lately is Tuesdays with Dorie. I have good intentions to post more, really. I guess since she has only been with us five crazy weeks that I ought to cut myself some slack, but since the desire to do more is still there, it just isn't all that easy.

Anywho.

I was really excited when Jodie at Beansy Loves Cake chose the Dulce de Leche Duos for this week's recipe. I actually made these cookies quite a while ago and really loved them. Back then I made my own dulce de leche by using a can of sweetened condensed milk and I filled the cookies with bittersweet chocolate.

This time I switched things up just a bit and used some homemade dulce de leche that I made myself from milk, sugar and a vanilla bean. I can't begin to tell you how delicious this stuff is - even better than making it from the can! As soon as I figure out what I did with the recipe I came up with I promise to post it here because it really is something else. I think using the vanilla bean really put it over the top. Aside from that, I think what I really loved too was that my homemade version wasn't too overly sweet, and I cooked it until it really got as dark as I wanted it.

I also filled the cookies this time, some with more of the dulce de leche, and some with chocolate. Since I had some ground hazelnuts sitting around I also rolled the edges of a few cookies in the nuts for a little extra something.

Be sure to check out the TWD blogroll to find out how everyone else fared this week.

TWD: Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart with a Hazelnut Crust

This week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe was for the Soft Chocolate and Raspberry Tart chosen by Rachelle at Mommy? I'm Hungry.

I've looked at this recipe several times, but for some reason hadn't given it too much thought. I'm glad Rachelle chose this one this week because it was fun to make and different from most other desserts.

There is just something very pretty to me about the berries suspended in the baked chocolate ganache. The only change I made to the original recipe, since I've made Dorie's sweet tart dough with almonds before, was to try making it with hazelnuts instead. I guess in part because I subbed almonds in last week's thumbprint cookies and couldn't stop thinking about the raspberry/hazelnut combination. Then, add in the chocolate and, well, 'nuff said.

As you can probably guess, the chocolate/hazelnut/raspberry combination was killer. I made the tart in my rectangle tart pan so that I could cut the tart into 12 small rectangle servings. I tried the tart at room temperature, which was definitely the best flavor and texture wise, but I also enjoyed it chilled just a bit in the refrigerator.

I know that my fellow TWD Bakers were all contemplating lots of different options than raspberries, so there should be lots of fun versions out there to check out. Thanks for checking in with me while we're trying to get back into the swing of things here.

TWD: Thumbprint Cookies

I actually just found time to put these cookies together at the very last minute, but apparently can't get much time to write, so, much like these cookies this is going to be short, sweet and to the point. The Thumbprint Cookies for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie were chosen by Mike of Ugly Food Dude (thanks for a quick and easy one this week Mike!)

The short of these cookies is that they reminded me of a sandy, crumbly almost shortbread type of recipe. I really liked the dusting of confectioners' sugar on them and the raspberry jam - red seedless here, not that you can tell from the color in my photos - was delicious. The only change I made to the recipe was to use the ground almonds I had on hand. I did have some hazelnuts, and will give that a shot some time, but there was no extra time for roasting, peeling, cooling, grinding, etc. (Wow - I just felt a bit like the Little Red Hen there - no one to help me with the hazelnuts, but everyone to eat the cookies).

Alas, dear bloggy friends, this ends my quick post because it is very late and a little someone is waking up. More next time - with better planning, promise!

As always, check out the TWD blogroll for many more lovely variations on this week's recipe.

Did you hear? Casual Blogger Conference 2010

Did you hear? You don't have to flit off on a plane cross-country to attend a great conference for bloggers like you and me!

If you are like me, you love blogging, but you wish you could attend some cool conference and get some killer information about finding your voice, your niche, and being a better blogger. Unfortunately, if you are also like me, you don't have a lot of extra funds to commit to airfare, food, hotel, and whatever other expenses go along with attending a conference that more often than not is on the other side of the country - in either direction - from Utah. While these conferences are extremely worthwhile, the possibility of attending far away is just about nil for me.

Enter the Casual Blogger Conference (aka CBC). The ladies putting this conference together get it. They get that we want good information and they get that putting something together here in Utah, nice and close to home, is a great idea. They have also been putting together an amazing collection of speakers. This is going to be one amazing event, and right in our backyards this May 28-29 in Sandy, Utah.

So, if you haven't already checked it out, just click on the little button below to go get your tickets - seriously, it will be worth it - and you can even sleep in your own bed :) !!