Dairy Free Sweetened Condensed Milk Caramel (Slow Cooker)

I came across this idea on Facebook recently to use your slow cooker to make caramel using Sweetened Condensed Milk and it got me thinking if it would work for the two Nature's Charm varieties that we sell - Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk and Sweetened Condensed Oat Milk. There was only one way to know for sure so I got my slow cooker out and started a test!

Place your unopened can of sweetened condensed milk into your slow cooker. I labelled mine (luckily!) so I knew which one was which if the label came off - which it did.

Cover the can completely with water and make sure there's quite a bit of water over the top of the can. I pretty much filled my slow cooker.

Put the lid on and turn on your slow cooker. I did high for 5 hours. I checked it every now and then to check that the water level was staying above the cans still. I didn't need to add water at any stage.

After 5 hours, I left my cans to cool down in the slow cooker and once cooled I put them in the fridge to use the next day.

Now how did it go? 

The Sweetened Condensed Coconut Milk went the thickest. It's possible with more time that the oat milk would go thicker. Both caramels tasted delightful. I asked my children to taste both and let me know their preference. They each liked a different one so I can't give you a definitive answer there. I actually liked the coconut the best, mainly because it was thicker.

Just remember though that if you're gluten free, you'll need to stick with the coconut.

Now... on to the fun part. How to use it!

If it's really thick just warm it a little to make it pouring consistency.

• Eat it from the can - naughty but tasty!
• Drizzle over ice cream - and sprinkle with choc coated pretzels!
• Sandwich between biscuits
• Between layers of cake
• Drizzle on pancakes
• Stir through popcorn for your next movie night
• Use in your favourite recipes like caramel tart, cookies, cheesecakes and so much more!

Enjoy! Lisa x