Bolder Baking, and you will be happy to know that you can make condensed milk, because

I know that a lot of people have trouble finding it. All you need to make it is sugar and milk—that

is it. You will get the exact same results as store-bought.

In a heavy-bottom saucepan, add in 2 cups of milk, non-fat, or full-fat. And then add

in 2/3 of a cup of sugar. Go in and stir around the sugar, to make sure it’s even, and then

leave it be until all the sugar has dissolved. You do not want it to simmer at this point.

So our milk has been heating for a few minutes, and I can feel and see that all of the sugar

has dissolved. This is perfect. So only at this point can we let it start to simmer.

So we’re going to take out our spatula—we’re not going to put that back in again—and

we are going to turn down the heat, and let it simmer away very gently, not boil, but

a low steady simmer for around 30 to 40 minutes. I find that the sweet spot is around 35 minutes.

So I often get asked, “Why can I not use regular sugar in my homemade ice cream? Why

do I have to use condensed milk?” And the reason is you need condensed milk because

it is liquid sugar. You need that liquid sugar in your ice cream to help it freeze and to

form your ice cream. That’s why it is a really important ingredient.

So our milk has been steadily bubbling away for around 30 minutes. As you can see, it

has changed color, and has almost gone kind of a creamy, peachy color. If you look around

the edges, you’ll have a little bit of foam. This is called ‘scum,’ actually. And what

we’re going to do is just remove that with a spoon, dipped in a little bit of water.

What this is impurities coming out of the sugar and out of the milk, and we just want

to remove it, to make sure we have a nice, clean, clear condensed milk.

I let the condensed milk simmer a few minutes longer because I wanted to get it a little

bit darker in color and a little bit thicker. Now have a look at this. This has been simmering

for 40 minutes. Every time your time will change, give or take a few minutes. So you

want to be able to tell what it looks like by eye, and that’s why I’m doing this

video. So what you’re looking for is that your mix is thick, and it will slowly dribble

off your spoon, and also, that the amount of liquid has about halved, which is exactly

what you want. So I can tell by looking at it, that this condensed milk is ready. So

I’m going to set it aside to let it go cold. Once your condensed milk goes cold, it will

look a little something like this: lovely and thick, and syrupy. So if you really want

to double-check if you’ve made your condensed milk right, measure it out into a jug, and

the finished result should weigh around 1 cup, or 8 ounces. It will be at the line,

or a little bit below it. And then you’ll know you did a good job.

And there you go, mystery solved! You can now make condensed milk at home, and enjoy

all of my ice cream recipes. Thanks so much for watching, and stay tuned to see all of

my other Bold Baking Basics.