Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk (fail)

I was trying to decide if there was such a thing as lactose-free sweetened condensed milk, and came across this recipe at Pinch and Swirl. It’s not in the Instant Pot but this way I can make it with lactose-free milk and it will be lower-lactose if not lactose-free. Other recipes use milk only, so it could theoretically be lactose free but take multiple hours to reduce; this recipe uses part cream, which is lower in lactose than milk but not lactose free.

There is a recipe for making evaporated milk in the IP at Spice Chronicles, though – and I wonder if the method will work for sweetened condensed milk as well, without using cream. She also links to an Indian dessert called Basundi, which is like sweetened condensed milk with spices (but on the stove, not IP)! The Spice Chronicles author says she didn’t have to stir after it boiled – but it’s not clear how much the milk was reduced at 30 – 40 minutes, since she compared it to specific dishes and not volume/quantity.

The recipe below is on the stove – for now. More later as the story develops…

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Homemade Sweetened Condensed Milk on the stove

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Ingredients

• 4 c whole milk
• 3/4 c heavy cream
• 1 c sugar
• 1/8 t kosher salt (this is less dense than regular table salt, so use less if there's no kosher available)

Instructions

1

Bring all the ingredients to a simmer in a heavy saucepan - this should take about 12 minutes

2

Stir and simmer until the volume is reduced by half (should be 30 additional minutes) - if you weigh it before and after, it should be reduced by 26 ounces

3

Store in refrigerator in airtight containers; should last 1 month

4

Bring to room temperature before using so it's the consistency of canned

Notes

see my notes below - first time, it turned into dulce de leche and took 1 hour 25 minutes.

OK: test 1, June 9, with Fairlife milk (lactose free). The instructions were clear and I still didn’t follow – the simmer should take about 12 minutes, and if not simmering at 12 minutes, turn up the heat. It wasn’t, I did but then it proceeded to boil so, assuming what we wanted was simmer, I turned it down to what I think simmer is. At 30 minutes after the 12-minute simmer, I still had 4+ cups (which started at 4 + 3/4 cream + whatever the volume of sugar added). So, boil it is. 10 more minutes boiling: 4 cups exactly. 20 minutes: 3+ cups. Not sure how much is also lost in pouring into cup measure and back into pot! 32 minutes – this means the original 12+ to simmer, the first 30 minutes of simmering and an additional 32 minutes – and it’s just slightly less than 3 cups, but visibly thicker. That means so far it’s been at least 1 hr 15 minutes, and not there yet. Dang.

At 41 additional minutes, it is dark, practically dulce de leche, and just ever so slightly more than 2 cups and lumpy as bad gravy. Since I’m using it in cheesecake, maybe I should just go for a dulce de leche flavor rather than the mango I had planned. Maybe just make the mango jam as a topping.

Ugh – it was awful in the cheesecake, and – well, I need to try again.