Dulce De Leche literally means “sweet of milk” and so trying to create a vegan version for it may seem crazy. But those of us who are familiar with the huge range of confectionery, baked goods, and desserts made with this Latin-American delight, understand the need a vegan may have to find a way to make it. Here are a few tips that help achieve that goal.
To make “regular” Dulce de leche, you need to stir together until boil 4 cups of milk, 1 1/4 cups of sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon baking soda. It should take about 1.5 hours. Then, stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla and let it cool.
To make the whole thing vegan, you can use a wide range of milk replacements to make this gooey goodness, you just need to watch out and add a thickening agent to make sure it doesn’t end up too liquidy.
Some popular options are using full-fat coconut milk, coconut cream, soy milk, or flax milk, and adding to your choice some tapioca starch or arrowroot. Make sure to taste as you go along to make sure there’s no after taste. Since some of these milk replacements are a bit sweet, you might want to adjust your sugar amounts or consider sugar alternatives that would complement the plant-based milk in flavor and sweetness.
Of course, you could also make your own condensed milk from soy milk powder and use that as a basis for your dulce de leche.
Once it’s ready, you can use the dulce de leche for cupcakes topping, in cake or muffin batter, or to make a vegan version of the famous and delicious Alfajores. Yum!
