Better-For-You Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

It's Too Yummy Tuesday!

On select Tuesdays I share delicious recipes either inspired by my books or that are just plain delicious!

I recently posted about going paleo, meaning I've made some fairly sweeping changes to my diet. Admittedly, when I first ran across today's recipe, I wasn't looking for a healthier option, but a way to make my own sweetened condensed milk because I had run out of the canned variety. I've made healthier adjustments since then, and even so I won't pretend this is a paleo health food! But I like to think that on the rare occasions when I want to indulge, this is at least a better choice than canned.

Better-For-You Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk

I don't use this product very often, but I found I prefer the homemade variety--and depending on the ingredients used, it can be cheaper as well. Some people use this in coffee or Chai, but sweetened condensed milk is most commonly used in baked goods or candies. I almost exclusively use it for my favorite holiday fudge recipe. 

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups whole milk --Not skim! You want the fat. Since going paleo I've switched to raw milk from a source I trust.
1/2 or 2/3 cup your favorite unrefined sugar -you can experiment with date/palm/coconut sugars, raw organic honey (go with the lesser amount), or use organic raw cane sugar if you aren't worried about glycemic load
3 Tbs butter -here I'd go with grass fed butter or homemade from raw/grass fed cream
1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

Heat milk and sugar in a heavy saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring just to a simmer, not a full rolling boil, stirring very frequently. When you've got a decent gentle simmer going, reduce heat as much as you can and let the mixture reduce to just under half the amount, more or less depending on the thickness and amount required for your recipe. This can make the equivalent of 1 can sweetened condensed milk, roughly, more or less depending on how far you reduce it. (For coffee creamer, you can reduce less; for fudge, you'll want this thicker.)

Keep an eye on this and stir often, but you don't have to stand over it--and you won't want to, as this takes between 1-2 hrs. Try not to get impatient and dial up the heat, since you could scorch the mixture. If you're in a big hurry, turn up the heat just barely and stir frequently, but even so, it'll take some time. 

After reducing, remove thickened mixture from heat and stir in butter and vanilla. I like to pour this into a heatproof jar/container to cool.

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J. Rose Allister is the author of more than twenty-five books, primarily romance and erotic romance. A former editor and submissions director, she now works as a mild-mannered hospital secretary by day, naughty writer by night. Connect with her on Twitter or Goodreads. She loves talking to people!