dulce de leche Archives - Jenny is baking

New Edition: Alfajores Marplatenses

I probably sound like a broken record, but my very favorite cookie from my birth place Uruguay is alfajores marplatenses. This translates to a chocolate sandwich cookie, which is filled with caramel aka dulce de leche. A decadent delicacy. Obviously I already have a recipe on the blog, however, this time I thought I may give another recipe a try. The recipe below follows the recipe by Isabel Vermal, an Argentinian pastry maker. Her dough is slightly different from my first recipe, it is slightly drier and contains more flour. It is a beautiful contrast to the dulce de leche filling. May I interest you in making below recipe?

10/01/2025

Sandwich-Cookies: Alfajores with Almonds

Have you every heard of “alfajores”? These are sandwich cookies that are usually filled with the caramel cream called dulce de leche. They originally stem from Andalucia in Spain, but have become extremely popular in Uruguay and Argentina. Supposedly about 10 million (!) alfajores are sold each day in Argentina in 2023. The “original” is usually made with flour and cornstarch and creates this nice crunchy texture, however, my version below contains flour and almonds instead. The classic alfajor is usually rolled in coconut flakes, however, I will used chopped almonds for this version.

06/11/2024

Nut Caramel Cake from Argentina: torta Balcarce for my Seventh Blog Birthday

Today I am going to introduce a speciality from Argentina: torta Balcarce or postre Balcarce. This cake consists of sponge cake layers, the caramel cream called dulce de leche, chopped marrons/sweet chestnuts (often replaced with walnuts), meringue, and whipping cream. The cake originated in the town Balcarce (hence the name). It was created by the pastry chef Guillermo Talou in 1950 and quickly became famous throughout the country. To the present day the town Balcarce celebrates a festival. One event is to actually assemble a gigantic cake and eat it. Unfortunately, I did not have the chance to eat this cake when I went on holiday in Argentina in 2018. However, I figured, why not try making it at home in Germany? I decided to make this cake for my seventh blog anniversary, today exactly seven years ago my first blog post went online, so I wanted to celebrate with you with this delicious cake.

15/02/2024

Torta Rogel from Uruguay

I am going to introduce torta rogel from Uruguay today. Why do you find many recipes from Uruguay on this blog? Because I was born in this beautiful country in Latin America. Even though I have a German passport, I lived in Uruguay for several years as a child. We happened to live in Montevideo, the capital of Uruguay. Back in the 80s you would occasionally find some horse carriages between the cars and we lived on one of the main streets. My sister and me often paid a visit to the nearby kiosk, we would either get “chicle”, which is chewing gum, or we got breakfast: bread and dulce de leche. Dulce de leche is the peanut butter of Latin America, the caramel made from sweetened milk is used as much in Latin American cuisine as is peanut butter in the U.S. I will never forget how my dad instructed my sister and me to get breakfast: “Go and get bread and dulce de leche from the vaca cow (vaca= Spanish for cow).” We may have spoken German among each other, but a Spanish word would slip in here and there. Sometimes funky creations such as saying the same word in two language would come out of it. But anyway, I love dulce de leche, so I wanted to show you this delicious cake, which contains a lot of it. In this reel you can see how I make it and how it looks.

01/12/2023

12 Recipes with Dulce de Leche

I probably sound like a broken record, but dulce de leche is as popular in Latin America as is Nutella in Europe. This caramel is made from milk and sugar. You will find plentiful recipes featuring dulce de leche. It may be used as a filling or it will serve as a thin layer. It can be a simple dollop served with flan. You will be able to spread it on bread (just like Nutella) or you can simply eat it by the spoonful. I am telling you, there is a reason why this caramel is so popular. Today I will introduce twelve recipes from Latin America containing dulce de leche, one is from Russia. So which recipe is your favorite?

Let’s first start with the basic recipe for dulce de leche:

16/08/2023

Dulce de Leche Made in a Frying Pan

Dulce de leche is the Nutella of Latin America. I may sound like a broken record, but I don’t get tired of saying this. Dulce de leche is made from sweetened milk and becomes caramel. Just as here in Germany Nutella is spread on bread, you may just eat it by the spoonful or make a lot of baked goods with it, dulce de leche is used the same in Latin America. Yes, I do have fond memories of smearing dulce de leche onto bread. Jam could only be cut (and is called dulce de membrillo), so I spread dulce de leche on my bread and topped it off with some cheese. Yes, I know this sounds crezy, but I loved it. Yes, of course there is already a recipe on my blog for dulce de leche, check out how to make dulce de leche in this blog article. Essentially, we are going to boil sweetened condensed milk for long enough in unopened cans until they become caramel. This usually takes about 3 1/2 hours, so today I am going to introduce a quicker version, making it in a frying pan. This will take about 30-40 minutes. So if you are restrained timewise, this may be for you, but this dulce de leche is more liquid than the one from the can.

11/08/2023

Brigadeiros from Brazil with 4 Ingredients

Have you ever heard of the truffle called brigadeiro from Brazil? In my opinion this is a perfect treat, which you can give as a last-minute gift. They can be made in a short amount of time and are so creamy. If you are a truffle fan, this may be for you. I am introducing the traditional flavor here, which is made with sweetened condensed milk, butter, and cocoa powder. You will then roll in chocolate sprinkles. However, you may also use additional cocoa powder or leave plain. So all you need is four ingredients and a bit of time to make this delicious treat. Continue Reading…

07/07/2023

Donuts from Argentina, bolas de fraile

Today is national Donut Day or Doughnut Day and I am going to celebrate it with donuts from Argentina or Uruguay. They are called bolas de fraile or berlinesas. In Germany donuts are called Berliner, Berliner Pfannkuchen, Kreppl, or Krapfen as this probably already explains where “berlinesas” are from. Apparently, German immigrants took this delicious donut to Argentina. However, one main difference is the filling. Whereas German Berliner are filled with strawberry jam or jelly traditionally, Argentinians will rely on their beloved dulce de leche, which is a caramel made from sweetened milk. A small difference is also how these are dusted with sugar, in Germany you will traditionall dust only the top part with icing sugar whereas in Argentinia regular sugar is used to roll the entire ball in it. Be it as it may, I hope you will enjoy these sweet little yeast treats, which are fried, filled with dulce de leche and rolled in sugar. Regardless of whether Germans brought them or not (another name is bolas de fraile, which literally translates as “balls from Monchs”), these little donuts will for sure sweeten your day.

02/06/2023

Brazo de Reina from Chile

Today I am taking part in the German blogger event called kulinarische Weltreise (culinary travels troughout the world). Today’s stop: Chile. I knew immediately what I wanted to make. Brazo de reina! This literally translates as a “queen’s arm”. More commonly known as a Swiss roll or sponge roll. What distinguishes the Chilean roll from others is the filling. Manjar, or often known as dulce de leche, is a caramel made from sweetened milk. I do understand why you would think of a queen when you prepare this, this caramel definitely has some royal characteristics. So be pepared for a light and fluffy roll filled with sweet and delicious caramel spread.

24/03/2023

British Banoffee Pie for the Queen

I was not aware that the British Queen actually celebrated her 70th anniversary as a Monarch on February 2, 2022. Having reigned for 70 years, that is rare, as far as I understand she has broken all records. Obviously the Brits are celebrating, new stamps are being issued, there is going to be a tree in front of Buckingham Palace created out of 350 local British trees; yes, we all need to dress up for this special occasion and be on our best behavior. The Brits also announced a baking competition open to all people residing in the UK 8 years or older. The Platin Pudding was asked to be created. Apparently more than 5,000 people submitted a recipe. The winner is Jemma Melvin with a Lemon Swiss roll trifle with Amaretti. It is very time-consuming as all five different components are made from scratch. You can check her recipe here.

13/05/2022

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