The best thing I've made lately

I made some caramel ice cream earlier this summer.  It called for a can of dulce de leche.  I bought a can from the grocery store (in the Hispanic Kosher section).  It was lovely, but I thought to myself, "Hey, I could probably make this!"  And then the research started.

I discovered ways to make it where you put a can in a pot of water, cover it with water, and let it simmer for three hours.  Of course, you have to top it off and make sure that the can doesn't explode.  Too much effort.

Here's a pretty labor intensive recipe that requires a lot of stirring.

David Lebovitz makes his in the oven with a number of pans and hot water.

And then, there was this recipe.  Seriously, it was a no-brainer.  I'll put it in a nutshell for you:  Take the label off of a can of sweetened condensed milk.  Put in in your empty slow cooker.  Fill the slow cooker with water making sure to completely cover the pan.  Put the lid on the slow cooker.  Turn it on low.  Walk away for 10 hours.  Turn off the slow cooker.  Let the water and can cool.  Gorge yourself on amazing, sweet, caramely dulce de leche.

Seriously, I had to stop myself from just eating it with a spoon.  At least when people were watching.

I have no photo because most of it went into caramel ice cream.  And the rest mysteriously disappeared.  I'm still looking into it.