When I first arrived in Argentina, I was doing my best to eat as few carbohydrates as possible. However, dulce de leche has infiltrated my diet and bulked up my belly. It started on my second day in Argentina with alfajores and has now progressed to the point where I think nothing of eating dulce de leche straight out of the tub with a spoon (or, shamefully, my finger). This morning, I even put the stuff in my coffee. An evil friend suggested the idea, and I can verify that it’s devilishly good.

My breakfast has undergone a strange and wonderful metamorphosis. Two boiled eggs with mayonnaise have become three or four pancakes filled with dulce de leche. This morning, while frying up another batch of my Slimming Health Pancakes, I underwent a minor crisis: I realized that dulce de leche isn’t available worldwide. (How can this be???)

So, I bribed my hostess Miriam with a pancake and got her to give me her dulce de leche recipe. I know there are probably loads of them out there on the interwebs, but my hosts are chefs and everything they make is AMAZING (which could be another reason my belly has broadened in the last month). So, even though I haven’t tried making it yet, cos I can still buy the stuff by the tub, I can almost guarantee that this is The Best Dulce De Leche Recipe …. In The World.

The Best Dulce De Leche Recipe In The World

Ingredients:

•  For each litre of milk use 200g of sugar. (Best is to make 5 litres with 1 kg sugar)
•  1 stick of vanilla (you can also add a stick of cinnamon – muy rico as Miriam says)
• 1/2 teaspoon of bicarb of soda (use this amount for 1 litre or 5 – it’s just for the colour)

To make:

1. Heat the milk up a bit in a saucepan
2. When it’s warm, add the sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and bicarb
3. Put a teaspoon in the bottom of the pot to keep the mixture from sticking (this took a while for Miriam to explain to me cos I’d never heard of doing this before)
4. Stir, stir, stir over a slow heat until the mixture reduces and turns into sticky, sweet gold (up to 5 hours. I think I need some kind of stirring machine…)
5. Dulce de leche will keep for about a month in the fridge.

Once you’ve succeeded in making your dulce de leche, you can try:

My Pretty Good Pancake Recipe

Ingredients:

• 2 eggs
• 125g flour (roughly). Use plain flour if you want crepe style pancakes and self-raising flour if you want thicker, fluffy pancakes.
• pinch of salt
• 2 t sugar
• 200ml milk (roughly)
• some butter for frying

(Disclaimer: where I say roughly, it means I have absolutely no idea of the quantities, because, as mentioned previously, I am a member of the Just Chuck Stuff In and Hope For The Best School of Baking.)

To make:

1. Mix the eggs, flour, salt and sugar in a bowl.
2. Add milk and whisk until the mixture is nice and runny.
3. Heat a non-stick frying pan to medium-high heat, add a small knob of butter.
4. Use a half soup ladle of batter for each pancake. Pour into pan and wave frying pan around until it is evenly spread.
5. Cook on one side until edges turn golden and start to turn up.
6. Use a plastic egg lifter to turn pancake over and cook on other side for a few seconds until you get nice golden brown spots on that side too.
7. Repeat until batter runs out (add small bits of butter every 2 or 3 pancakes)

To serve:

1. Cover freshly-made pancake with thin layer of dulce de leche and roll up.
2. Optional awesomeness: slice half a banana down the middle before rolling and pour cream over before serving.

Enjoy this wonderful and very slimming health breakfast!