Mexican Dessert Recipes
How to Make Mexican Cajeta
Cajeta, also called crema de cajeta or dulce de leche, is a Mexican caramel sauce. The traditional version of cajeta is made from goat's milk.
It is used as an ice cream topping, in Mexican cake recipes and it is delicious poured over grilled bananas. It can be made with cow's milk too if goat's milk is unavailable.
Crema De Cajeta Recipe
Ingredients -
2 cups sugar
2 quarts goat's milk
½ teaspoon baking soda dissolved in 1 tablespoon water
1 large Mexican vanilla bean, split open, or 1 tablespoon Mexican vanilla extract
Preparation:
In a large, non-iron pot, mix together the vanilla, sugar and milk. Place it over a medium heat and stir continuously until the sugar dissolves and the milk begins to simmer.
Remove from the heat and add the dissolved baking soda.
It will bubble up. When it has finished bubbling, return the pot to the heat. Turn the heat down so the mixture is simmering quickly but not boiling.
Stir regularly until the mixture turns golden. This takes about an hour.
As the milk starts to thicken, stir it more frequently. Make sure it does not stick to the bottom of the pot.
Drop a teaspoon of the mixture into some water. The cajeta is ready if a ball forms. Take the pot off the heat and allow the crema de cajeta to cool. It should be of a medium thickness.
If it is too thick, add some hot water. If it is not thick enough, let it simmer some more.
Allow the cajeta to cool and take out the vanilla bean. Strain the mixture through a mesh strainer into a bowl.
Scrape the vanilla bean seeds into the cajeta and store in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it.
Cajeta should be served warm.
