Before vacation and no afters...

Hi.  It's Tuesday.  A busy one, at that.  And I hope everyone is doing well.  Really well.

I am doing very well, because I am LESS than a week away from vacation.  That's right; less than a week.

Where am I going?  The beach.

For how long?  Well, see- that's where I cannot give an answer.  In my mind's eye, there is this week, and then there is vacation.  There is nothing on the other side of vacation- there is just vacation.  There is me, my son, my mother and her family, my Bible, guitar, and a bathing suit.  Everything else at this point is completely inconsequential.  Everything except for (perhaps) this...

What is this gooey caramel confection?  This is home-made Dulce de Leche, and it is muy delicioso.  And it happens to be the base for the cake I am bringing to the beach (in less than a week).  Dulce de Leche, fresh peaches, pecans, and perhaps a bit of bourbon is going into this cake, and I cannot wait to share it with you.

But I am getting ahead of myself.  I have less than a week before all of those ingredients come together.  For now I will start with how to make the miracle that is Dulce de Leche.

But I have to warn you, it is a bit uncomplicated, and 2 bits accessible, and 20 bits delicious.  And it could go on everything.  And it is 150 calories for two measly tablespoons.  Ay caramba!

See?  There?  I'd say about 100 calories.  And totally worth it.

And here we go with the recipe:

Dulce de Leche
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Preheat your oven to 425.  Pour the condensed milk into a shallow baking dish or pie plate, and cover with foil.  Place into a 13x9 baking dish, and place it in the oven.  Fill the 13x9 pan with hot water, about halfway up the baking dish containing the condensed milk.

Bake for 70 minutes.  Carefully pull out of the oven.  Let cool before handling.

Pull out the graham crackers, Nilla Wafers, pretzel sticks, apple wedges, ice cream, spoons, ladles, and dip away.  Or let it cool and whip it into some butter and powdered sugar for some frosting.  Or swirl some into some brownie batter before you bake it.

You get the picture.  This stuff is trouble.  But if it is wrong, then I don't care to be right.

Less than a week...

Have a great day.

Rachel Bee