Use this recipe to replace canned sweetened condensed milk in recipes. Particularly if you don't want whatever is in the lining of a canned product (think bisphenol A (BPA)) or any other weird preservatives or additives that may be in there!

This recipe makes about a half can of sweetened condensed milk

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups whole organic milk

1/2 or 2/3 cup unrefined sugar like organic cane sugar

3 tablespoons of organic butter

1 teaspoon of a high quality natural or organic vanilla

Method:

Mix sugar and milk together in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-low heat. Bring to a low simmer (until the mixture just barely smiles) and stir until sugar is dissolved. Using a heat diffuser (or if you don't have one turn heat to low), turn down heat to low.

Reduce mixture by half, to one cup of milk. This will take some time, about 2 hours. So do some things around the house while keeping an eye on your milk.

Once milk is reduced whisk in butter and vanilla. Cool mixture several hours to overnight in the refrigerator until thick.

image: yurayura_naoko