Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

A very blessed day today! The Mr. and his baseball staff and team continue their season as the Class 2A Sectional Champions. Just to give you an idea of how our life is between the Middle of March and end of May ... our calendar shows just under 60 games between 3 schedules and almost half of those have been in May alone (wowzeers, it's now wonder we are beat)! It's a crazy life being the wife of a varsity coach and raising 4 children and there are days I am just not sure what I have got myself into ;) BUT when each day is done, the house is quiet, and I can step back and reflect without an endless amount of requests it's with a full heart.

I am looking forward to the day when I can get back to posting these in the afternoon, but until then here is yet another late night one!

How to Make Your own Sweetened Condensed Milk

I have decided I will be using evaporated milk and sweetened condensed milk more often now that I have taken the time to make it at home. To make this somewhat time consuming task doable for our lifestyle I can see myself  making a larger batch of evaporated milk and then use it when needed. This recipe is adapted from Just as Delish. 

thickness after 10 minutes of cooling

Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

1 cup evaporated milk

1/2 cup sugar

1/2 tablespoon of butter

Heat milk over medium heat. Add sugar and bring to a slow boil. Stir every minute or two. Simmer for 15-20 minutes. Remove from heat and add butter. Allow to cool. Store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator or use immediately. To use after being chilled allow to come to room temperature or whisk with a small amount of water. 

slow boil

simmer until you reach this consistency 

Looking forward to seeing how thick this is in the morning, but for now it tastes perfect and I am going to bed!

Today's Question: What is your favorite use for sweetened condensed milk?

Updated 5/31/2015 - This morning when I check on the sweetened condensed milk, I was relatively pleased with the thickness. It was not as thick as store bought but that I am this sure could easily be tweaked by simmering it a bit longer.

Although I didn't make something today I felt stood on it's own for a post, I did try a caramel dip recipe that called for sweetened condensed milk. The kids loved it but I will be making some changes or trying out a few other recipes. Tammy's Recipes is were I started, but since I only had 1 cup of evaporated milk, I made half a batch. 

Ours didn't turn out near as dark, but I am assuming this could be not using dark brown sugar. Since caramel is probably my all time favorite sweet (I'd choose caramel over chocolate anyday) I am a little picky and will keep working on this until I have it just right. 

This whole making everything homemade has made me realized I can treat the kids without breaking the bank. A small container of caramel dip (don't get me wrong the store bought it way better at this point, but not for long ,.. I am determined) at the local grocery store is $3.99.  1 pound of ground beef OR small container of caramel apple dip?!?!? Yes, I know you can buy it cheaper at other places but I could make the caramel dip way quicker than raising, butcher, and grinding my own beef! Sorry to all those that are vegan or vegetarian, we do eat meat around here. :)