Condensed Milk Crockpot Caramel

Here's a good one. My sister (go look at http://peepsinthewoods@blogspot.com/) found this awesome pin and sent it to me. Since we both love caramel (it's a family thing), I really wanted to give it a try. Here is the pin she found...

I'm gonna admit... I thought it looked kind of nasty when I first saw it (I hadn't read the title yet). I was thinking, What the H-E-hockey sticks is that?! (Yes... I actually think things like that in my head... it sounds a lot dumber when I write it down or say it aloud...) But then I read "CARAMEL" and I was on board!

WHAT YOU NEED:
A slow cooker/crock pot
Water
1 can of sweetened, condensed milk

I put this in my crock pot around 11 a.m., since I knew I would want to eat it around 7 that evening (it takes 8 hours to "cook"). I thought about that caramel all day long. ALL DAY! My stomach was grumbling because it says "Best Caramel Ever". I could not wait to eat it. So 7 p.m. rolled around, and I was like a kid on Christmas morning. YES! Then reality hit. This metal can has just sat in the crock pot for 8 hours. It was hot. Oh yea... Dang it! More waiting. That hour was like torture. On the positive side, it gave me time to thaw out my ice cream...

My ice cream is lonely

 How did it turn out? While it was amazing (I may or may not have tried to hide it from my husband) it was kind of not what I expected. I thought it would be drizzly and I can't really think of a consistency I would compare it to. Maybe like that hot fudge stuff you can buy, but before you heat it up. You can spoon it out and it holds up, but it will spread out if you put it out on wax paper for awhile (see below). It was soft, but not drizzly like ice cream drizzle. Don't worry, I didn't let it ruin my ice cream plans. We dropped it on some ice cream and ate it in about two minutes (maybe less). We did have to scoop out the ice cream first, so that took up about 30 seconds, but I'm estimating, so if it took us longer to scoop, then it could have taken us a lot less time to actually consume it.

Kid on Christmas morning!

The "After"

COST: $ I paid $2.49 for a can of sweetened condensed milk. I was kind of like, "$2.49?!? What?!" That seems kind of expensive since I can almost buy a whole jug for that much, but it sweetened... and condensed. I guess that means it comes at a premium.

DO-ABILITY: + It's so easy it's stupid. You throw a can in a crock pot of water. A really well-trained husband or boyfriend could do it. Or a monkey.

MY TWO CENTS: Start it an hour earlier than you'll want it. As I said above, I started it at 11 a.m., and wanted to eat it at 7 p.m. If I would have eaten it at 7, I would have burned my tongue off. You have to let it cool in the fridge for about an hour. Darn. That hindsight thing again...

POSITIVES: Really easy. Really delish. Easy clean up (actually, my crock pot might have been cleaner than when I started...).

NOT-SO-POSITIVES: It takes too long (when I see caramel, I want it yesterday). It's bad for you (is that really a not-so-positive... depends on your point of view. Since I'm supposed to be doing a "Paleo Diet" right now, that's why it's on the negative. This was worth the points it cost me though!

PIN OR BUST: I'm on a roll, because this one is a definite pin. Go. Do it now. You will want to kiss yourself in the mirror later (just make sure you're alone first...). This truly is so good and it is so so easy I wish I would have known how to do it sooner. Oh... the injustice...

MY EXPERIMENT: I thought maybe it would harden up and you could eat it like a regular caramel if I spread it out and let it dry out (I am about as good at candy making as a gorilla is at knitting). Well, it didn't. Now instead of being soft in a can, it is soft spread out on wax paper. Oh well.

Trying to make it into hard caramels

ANYTHING ELSE?: I thought of taking the label off, but then didn't. Don't worry about taking the label off first. I thought it would make a mess but it fell right off. I am at a crossroads now because while it is so good I could eat an entire can of it by myself, I'm not really sure how you're supposed to enjoy it? I think this would be sinful with some chocolate cake (like as a frosting) or as a dip for apples. Oh... the possibilities... I might experiment and try making two cans at a time next time I do this. That way my family might get some too.

Happy Pinning!