This recipe is definitely time intensive but the flavor is so absolutely worth the work.  I tried buying a tiny bottle of goats milk caramel from a Farmer’s Market ($6 for such a small tin!) and I was so hooked that I had to make a bigger batch for myself (and for way cheaper).

This caramel works with everything.  Try dipping some apple or pear slices in it or drizzle some over sliced up avocado chunks (weird but good!) or a bowl of homemade ice cream (if you’re up for the sugar hangover feeling in the morning).   Or you can just eat it by the spoonful (ahem, shame on me).

Ingredients:

• 1/2 quart of raw goat milk
• 1/2 cup organic cane sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/8 teaspoon baking soda dissolved in about a half tablespoon or so of water (you just want enough water to dissolve the pinch of baking soda)

Steps:

1.  Combine the goat milk, organic cane sugar, cinnamon stick, and vanilla extract into a medium sized heavy pot (not small, you’ll see why later).

2.  Mix well and place over medium heat.  Wait for it to start simmering and stir every so often to encourage the sugar to entirely dissolve into the mixture.  It’ll look like this:

3.  Once you get a good simmer going, briefly turn off the heat and let the mixture stop simmering for a minute or so.  Then mix in your baking soda dissolved in water.  Stir very well.  It’ll mostly likely fizz up a little (that’s what we didn’t use a small pot) and so it’ll look something like this:

4.  Turn the heat on medium again and let the mixture simmer.  It’ll take about 45-60 minutes on the stove.  For the first half an hour or so, you can stir about every 10 minutes.  Once you get past half an hour, you really need to babysit the caramel and mix it every few minutes.  How long you simmer will depend on how thick you want it to get (you can cook it so long you’ll end up with caramel candies) and your own preference on caramel flavor.  Taking it totally encouraged in this recipe!  Another good way to test the done-ness of this recipe is to look at your spatula after you’ve mixed the caramel…if the caramel starts to coat your spatula, you know it’s getting close to being done.

Done and Yum!