The first time I had Cajeta was in Mexico. It was drizzled over this fluffy vanilla cake and was thick, slightly tangy and delicious! It’s a sweet sauce very similar to dulce de leche or caramel sauce, except its made with goat milk, giving cajeta its distinct tang. When I realized how easy it would be to make at home, I had to give it a go!
How to make Cajeta
- In a small pot, stir together goat milk, sugar and salt. Simmer over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves, 2 to 4 minutes.
- In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients. Pour baking soda mixture into the goat milk mixture and stir together.
- Continue to simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring frequently. It’s really important that the mixture is stirred throughout the cooking process, so that it doesn’t burn on the bottom.
- Once the mixture is thick enough to thoroughly coat the back of a spoon and has turned a caramel color, remove from heat and pour mixture into a sterilized jar. You can sterilize a glass jar by carefully soaking it, open side down in boiling water for about 10 minutes.
- Tightly seal the jar and can in a water bath, or method of your choice, until the jar is properly canned.
- The mixture will thicken as it cools. Spread onto cookies or crackers or gently warm and pour onto ice cream, pies, cakes, etc.
FAQs
Caramel is made by melting down sugar until it is an amber color and thick in texture. Cajeta is made by melting goat milk and sugar down until golden brown in color and thick in texture. The flavors are similar but there’s a very subtle tanginess to cajeta from the goats milk.
Cajeta tastes very similar to dulce de leche, but because it’s made with primarily goats milk and not cows milk it has a slight tangy taste to the rich sauce.
Once the sauce is properly canned, it will keep in a cool, dry place for about months. Once it’s opened it should be refrigerated and will keep for up to a month.
My favorite thing about this homemade version is that you can control the thickness of the sauce when you make it yourself. This version is thinner than the typical dulce de leche you’ll find at the market. I like being able to pour it without having to warm it up, so this recipe makes a slightly thinner sauce. If you’d like a thicker sauce just simmer and stir the mixture for an additional 30 minutes or so.
I really love this simple cajeta recipe. It’s so creamy, tangy and delicious. It also makes great holiday gifts for family and friends! This sauce is perfect to drizzle over desserts! Here are some ideas for pairing below:
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Cajeta
INGREDIENTS
- 2 cups goat milk
- ½ cup superfine sugar granulated is fine
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- 2 tablespoons cow milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a small pot, stir together goat milk, sugar and salt. Simmer over medium-low heat until sugar dissolves, 2 to 4 minutes.
- In a small bowl, stir together the remaining ingredients. Pour baking soda mixture into the goat milk mixture and stir together.
- Continue to simmer for 1 hour 15 minutes to 1 hour 30 minutes, stirring frequently.
- Once the mixture is thick enough to thoroughly coat the back of a spoon and has turned a caramel color, remove from heat and pour mixture into a sterilized jar.
- Tightly seal the jar and can in a water bath, or method of your choice, until the jar is properly canned.
- The mixture will thicken as it cools. Spread onto cookies or crackers or gently warm and pour onto ice cream, pies, cakes, etc.
NOTES
- Makes 1 to 1 1/2 cups
- Shelf Life: Once the sauce is properly canned, it will keep in a cool, dry place for about months. Once it’s opened it should be refrigerated and will keep for up to a month.
- Is this as thick as dulce de leche? This version is thinner than the typical dulce de leche you’ll find at the market. It’s a pourable sauce, without having to heat it up. If you’d like a thicker sauce just simmer and stir the mixture for about an additional 30 minutes.
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It takes a while, and diligent stirring, but it’s so worth it!
This was easy to make and makes plain ice cream yummy
I have some canned evaporated goat’s milk….since I am trying to evaporate the milk by long slow cooking, should I just *not* reconstitute the milk, i.e., simmer it as is–evaporated–thereby eliminating the middle man? D’you think?
Delicious!
I have recently discovered canning and have been canning everything (well, really only jams and green chile and tomato sauce) as gifts for friends and family. Is this something I can can? And how long will it keep?
you said you can make this as thick or thin as you like…I like mine thick thick almost like a candy, chewy even
you did not say how to go about making it thicker
so? how is it done? more sugar? less milk?
Longer cooking time
I love cajeta, growing up we used to cross the border to Matamoros and Nueva Laredo pretty regularly over the summer. Everytime we would go my dad would give us money to buy a trinket and I always used it to buy jars of this stuff instead! I would hoard it and only use it sparingly until Christmas when all the kids would get a jar (which would then have to last until summer)! We havent been over in years, and the cajeta you find in the states is not the same. This version really hit a home run!
This is definitely something I need to try once in my life. I love dulce de leche and I’m sure I’d love this, too.
This was so great!! I loved it on ritz crackers for that salty sweet combo mmm!
YES! I attempted the dulce de leche from scratch once and I don’t know if it’s something I would do again but I also felt super badass about it. ALSO, was the dessert you had chocoflan?
YES! It totally was chocoflan (thank you. not knowing was driving me crazy!)…but it was served to me funnel cake style with SO.MUCH.CRAP.ON.TOP! Delicious. :)
This looks gorgeous! Totally intrigued by the goat milk! Pinned! I posted salted caramel sauce today and want to try your sauce next!
Yum, this sounds good! I’m really liking the idea of the goats milk to cut through some of the richness.
That sounds delicious! I’ve never tried cajeta but I’ll have to look for it or take the plunge and try making it. :)
I’m wondering how this would work with coconut milk, since my husband is allergic to all dairy. I’ve always wanted to do the (very dangerous) boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk trick. I’m pretty sure I would eat this all with a spoon.
I boiled unopened cans to make banoffee pie and it was delicious. You should try it!
You know, I know that it’s perfectly safe to boil unopened cans..and have heard of making your own dulce de leche by boiling an unopened can of sweetened condensed milk…. so you’re saying to boil coconut milk?
I don’t know why, but that process scares me! I can’t wrap my head around it for some reason. One of these days I’ll just do it. And I’ll probably love it…and make it over and over again…. right when it just happens to go out of style!!
Great post… and I’m sorry to butt in on your conversation!! :-)
I heard the same thing, never tried it either. Seems a little strange but I guess I will have to try it also.