Ever since this past Thanksgiving, I have been meaning to make a dulce de leche cheesecake and the reason why I have not made one yet is because I have been unable to find some dulce de leche. So guess what I spent my day doing last weekend? I made dulce de leche. I made some in the oven, some on the stove, and some in the microwave. Why so much? you will ask… Well the reason is quite simple. I am a very impatient person and did not want to spent 4 hours cooking dulce de leche on my stove in a water bath as suggested. But I had to try all the methods that were suggested. Well some turned out well and some not so well. The best and the fastest was done in the microwave.

Well 4 cans of condensed milk later, I had to find ways to “get rid” of my dulce de leche ( though it does keep well for several months in the fridge) because knowing myself, I would have probably eaten it all in a week by the teaspoon. That stuff is so so good;-)

So here is the recipe for the Dulce de Leche Covered Truffle:

Ingredients for about 50 truffles:

• 2 cans of condensed milk
• 1 bag of bittersweet chocolate chips ( preferably Ghiradhelli)
• Pearl Dust from Wilton
• Colored Wilton Chocolate chips for decoration

Open the cans of the condensed milk and empty them into a microwable bowl. I used my large round mold. I covered the large round mold with the octagonal silpat and microwaved it for 13 minutes. You need to be careful when making dulce de leche in the microwave. Cook it for 2 minutes, then stir. Then cook it again for 1 minute. Stir, and repeat the process again and again. You may need to let the dulce de leche cool a bit in between cooking time or it may spill over and it is not fun to clean that mess!

When the dulce de leche is an amber color and is quite thick, stop the cooking. And let it rest so that it cools off. Cool at room temperature. Meanwhile prepare the chocolate cups that will hold the dulce de leche.

In a microwavable bowl, cook about 1 cup of chocolate chips in the microwave for 90 to 2 minutes. Stir well. With a pastry brush, paint the inside of each cup of the petit four tray. Place the tray in the freezer for a few minutes ( 5-10). Take the tray out and paint the inside again to make the shell harder. Place the tray back into the freezer for a few minutes again ( 5-10).

With a spoon, scoop about 1/2 tbsp of dulce de leche and place it in each chocolate cup.

Place the tray back into the freezer for the caramel to be cold. Take the tray out, and paint the dulce de leche with the chocolate to close up the chocolate “truffle”. Place the tray back into the freezer and let it cool for a few minutes. Take it out again and  paint the cups again. Place the tray back into the freezer .

Finally take the tray out, and with a small paint brush, paint the glitter all over the truffle. Then melt a few tbsp of chocolate chips and paint cute designs on top of each truffle. Et voila!!!

I sounds like a lot of work, but really it goes pretty fast. And I will tell you, those dulce de leche chocolate truffles are to die for:-) Give it a try!!! YUM YUM!!!

Bon Appetit and Happy Cooking!!!