Wednesday 9 November 2011

Soy condensed milk

The good things in life: Riding to work on a glorious spring day (especially when I haven't done it for ages).  Talking with a colleague about how cutting your own hair at home is so much nicer than going to a hairdressers.  Discovering it isn't that hard to make soy condensed milk.

I finally made a batch of soy condensed milk on Friday.   I had been determined to try it after seeing all the additives in the tin I bought recently.  I found Kari's post about vegan milks helpful.  I chose Bonsoy because it had good levels of protein and fat compared to others I looked at.  The recipes online were fairly similar with different amounts of milk - Joy of Baking used 4 cups of milk, a bakespace recipe used 3 cups, veganbaking.net used 2 and 3/4 cups. I didn't have much milk left because E and Sylvia keep using it up in porridge.

It was a great success.  I love condensed milk.  Who would have ever thought it was so easy to make at home!  I just stirred it every now and again.  Now that I have discovered I can make my own from soy milk and it is good enough to eat straight out of the saucepan, the sky is the limit.  (veganbaking.net says you can also do this with coconut milk or rice milk.)  Admittedly mine looked more like dulce de leche, but it tasted great.  I'll tell you about the fudge I made with it soon.

Previously on Green Gourmet Giraffe
This time last year: Queen Victoria Market - lunchtime delights
This time two years ago: Grasping the nettle (soup)
This time three years ago: Rogan Josh with variety
This time four years ago: Whimsical nutloaf and salad

Soy Condensed Milk Recipe
adapted from veganbaking.net

2 - 2 1/4 cups soy milk
1/2 cup castor sugar

Place milk and sugar in a medium saucepan and bring to the boil.  Reduce heat to low.  Gently simmer, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a creamy consistency, or let it simmer further to become caramelised into dulce de leche.  If it is too thick, thin down with a little soy milk while it is still hot (I tried to thin mine once it had cooled and it was a bit lumpy though I suspect if I had blended it, it would have been smooth).

Here is how mine looked when I put it in the saucepan (it is still a mystery to me as to how sugary milk, which I dislike so much, can transform into a thick sticky sweet liquid that is manna from heaven):


It looked like this after 30 minutes of simmering (at this stage it still tasted like boiled milk which I hate and I thought it would take ages - it seemed to be developing milk skin which I also hate so I was worried it would taste horrid but this just blended in when stirred):


Finally I was delighted to see it after 50 minutes of simmering (oops, after feeling it was just like sweet milk for ages, it suddenly was getting into dulce de leche territory):


Mine made 1/2 cup of thick caramel sauce.  I started with 2 cups milk and added 1/4 cup at the end after taking it off the heat to give a bit more volume.  I let mine cool a bit and would recommend adding extra milk when it was still hot if it is too thick.

The commercial tin of soy condensed milk that I bought recently was kept in the fridge at the shop, and one online recipe warned it only kept for 7 days in the fridge.  So I'd recommend making this shortly before you want it.

Update 2015: I tried this with coconut milk rather than soy milk and it worked well.  I didn't simmer it so long so it was more a white condensed milk rather than caramelised.

On the Stereo:
Two of a Mind: Paul Desmond and Gerry Mulligan

15 comments:

  1. Yay! I'm so glad this worked, and am grateful for the chance to taste it later on. Those photos and comments will be helpful if I try this for myself.

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  2. What a fantastic discovery, I will definitely give this a try! Do you mean that you bought a tin of soy condensed milk that was already refrigerated? The Soymilke tins I have bought weren't refrigerated.

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  3. OHMYGOSH AMAZING!!!! Yay!!!!! OH how I love dulce de leche :D

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  4. I'm totally in awe - I had never considered that you could make that at home!

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  5. Lovely! Can't wait to see the fudge you made with it!!

    XO

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  6. I had no idea that condensed milk could be made in that way! How wonderful!

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  7. Ooo thanks for sharing this!! I love condensed milk and having this homemade vegan version will be excellent.

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  8. Oh gosh, I am so excited by this. Thank you! I also can't believe it only has 2 ingredients. Now I need to re-make my vegan tim tams to try them with this!

    Thanks for the link too :) I'm glad you found that post useful.

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  9. Have you tried making your fudge with this? I would love to know how it turns out.

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  10. Thanks cindy - I am hoping I might make it again and thought the photos might be helpful for me too - would love to hear how you go if you make it

    Thanks Mel - the one tin of soy milk condensed milk I bought was at wholefoods in East Brunswick St - they kept it in the fridge which I found odd and we ended up having a long discussion about why which they didn't know (it took so long that sylvia unwrapped a couple of bars of their most expensive soap which I then I had to pay for!!!)

    Thanks Hannah - we never called it dulce de leche when I was young but there was nothing like seeing the tin of condensed milk in a saucepan of boiling water and knowing mum was making caramel

    Thanks Megan - I only recently discovered I could do it at home - never looking back!

    Thanks Dawn - the "nutella" fudge was excellent - have now posted it

    Thanks Lisa - one of life's pleasant surprises :-)

    Thanks Ashley - imagine all the vegan baking you could do with this :-)

    Thanks Kari - I was excited (and wondered why everyone wasn't as excited as me so am glad other bloggers understand) - found your milk post useful in comparing different vegan milks - they are still a mystery to me

    Thanks Liz - the nutella fudge was great - but I can think of so many other ways to use it too!

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  11. Wow, that looks amazing--and it does sound so easy! I tried to make my own, once, but must have given up too soon as it never thickened up (or maybe it was the agave that was the problem!).

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  12. Brilliant, well done. Love the idea of making condensed coconut milk - will have to give that one a try.

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  13. Your soy condensed milk looks amazing. Is this too sweet? Or just right?
    I must try this! Yummie! :)

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  14. Thanks Ricki - I think I was inspired by your vegan condensed milk but the link is now broken (if I remember rightly) - did wonder how it would go with agave or other sweeteners but I just stuck with castor sugar for starters

    Thanks Choclette - I quite fancy fudge with condensed coconut milk some day too

    Thanks Sophie - it is incredibly sweet but I always find that of condensed milk - I did wonder if it would be less sweet if I had used more milk in ratio to the sugar - let me know if you find out!

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  15. I will so be making this, and your fudge recipe too!
    :-)

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