Best Sea Salt Dulce De Leche Recipes

SEA SALT DULCE DE LECHE

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).
• Pour one can (400 gr/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk ( not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.
• Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil. Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.
• Bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).
• Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.
• Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using.

THUMBPRINTS WITH DULCE DE LECHE, NUTELLA OR JAM

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Spread the hazelnuts or pecans out on a small baking sheet and cook in oven, shaking several times, until toasted, 10 to 12 minutes. If using hazelnuts, transfer to a bowl to cool, cover with a folded dish towel, then rub off the skins. (No need to toast the pistachios.)
• Once cooled, transfer the nuts to a food processor, preferably a mini one. Add 2 teaspoons flour and pulse just until nuts are finely ground, being careful not to overprocess.
• In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and granulated sugar on medium-high speed until light and fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes, scraping bowl as needed. Add egg yolks and vanilla, and beat on medium-high speed until well combined, about 2 minutes, scraping the bowl a few times as needed.
• Add 1/2 cup ground nuts, the salt and the remaining 2 1/4 cups flour; beat on low speed just until combined, then increase speed and beat until dough starts to clump together. Scrape the bowl and fold a few times to make sure everything is well mixed. Wrap dough in plastic wrap, flatten into a disk, and chill until firm, at least 1 hour and up to 3 days.
• Heat oven to 350 degrees. Pinch off small pieces of dough the size of a rounded tablespoon (about 20 grams each) and roll the top half of each one in the remaining ground nuts. Place a few inches apart on parchment- or silicone mat-lined baking sheets. Chill in the freezer until firm, about 10 minutes.
• Bake for 8 minutes, remove from oven and make a thumbprint in each cookie. Bake until golden brown on the bottom, and nuts are looking toasty but not burned, 6 to 8 minutes longer. Let cool a few minutes on the baking sheets and transfer to wire racks to cool further. While the cookies are still a little warm, fill each one with about 1/2 teaspoon of filling, and cool completely. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt. Cookies will keep in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 1 week.

SEA SALT DULCE DE LECHE ICE CREAM (ICE CREAM MAKER)

Steps:

• In a 3 quart heavy-bottomed saucepan, bring milk and cream just to a boil over moderate heat. Remove from the heat and whisk in the dulce de leche until it is completely incorporated into the mixture.
• Whisk in the vanilla extract.
• Transfer pan to fridge to cool (be sure to put a potholder or trivet under the bottom so you don't crack the glass shelf). Refrigerate uncovered for about an hour, stirring occasionally. After the hour, cover the pan and chill the mixture for 3 to 6 hours, or until very cold.
• Freeze the mixture in an ice cream maker (my Cuisinart took ~30 minutes, but follow the instructions for whatever type maker you have). A minute or two before the ice cream has fully firmed up, toss in the mix-in you choose.
• Transfer ice cream to an airtight container to ripen for at least 1 hour.
• When ready to serve, scoop ice cream into bowls and sprinkle lightly with sea salt (flakes are best, but the coarse-grain sea salt works too). Enjoy!
• NOTE: The original recipe calls for the toasted chopped pecans, but I like to use a lesser amount of Valrhona dark chocolate crunch perles that I find at Whole Foods Market instead. I'm sure this would be wonderful with an additional caramel swirl folded in as well, but I didn't have any extra dulce de leche on hand to try that.