Name: Cajeta
Total time: 1 h 45 min
Cuisine: Central & South American
Ingredients: 8 cups goat's milk; 2 cups (14 ounces/397 grams) sugar; 2 teaspoons vanilla extract; 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt; 1 cinnamon stick (optional); 3/4 teaspoon baking soda , dissolved in 1 tablespoon water

Why This Recipe Works

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.

Instructions

Bring milk, sugar, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon stick, 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-colored and heavily coats back of spoon, about 30 minutes longer. Discard cinnamon stick, if using. If desired, strain cajeta through fine-mesh strainer. Cajeta can be refrigerated in airtight container for up to 2 months.