When you need a bit of sweetness in life. Cajeta: goat’s milk caramel

What to do when you have too much goat’s milk and you need a little pick me up.  Yes, of course, cajeta! 

OK you probably thought,  “make cheese”, and I have been working on that  – with mixed results (I’ll post that a little later) or maybe ‘ how about some delicious yoghurt”….and that is on the list. 

A tiny backstory- we finally started milking our x2  ‘ex-Rocamadour’ goats Ella and Aretha, in November.  Being a ‘goat milking newbie’ it took a few weeks to get a routine going…and I have gone from about 300mL a to nearly a litre a day. Which is pretty good given we only milk in the morning right now (because of our limited electric fencing/pasture space they are with their kids in the field all day, so we don’t do an evening milk).  In any case we have more fresh milk than we can use, so I am having to come up with creative ways to use it before it goes off.

Ella and Aretha and their feisty kids

Cajeta is a bit like dulce de leche but made with goats milk and a bit of cinnamon.  I am all about the cajeta right now…move over salted caramel, it is cajeta time!  In brownies, on ice cream, on yoghurt (or fromage frais, or fromage blanc), in cakes (especially nice in apple cake), drizzled over fresh fruit, on toast (especially if you have a bit of fresh goat’s cheese underneath) and anywhere else you want a little sweetness on your life.  Cajeta latte? Si si!

Without further ado, here is my current cajeta recipe, adapted from the lovely Isabel Eats blog (which has a ton of delicious recipes for Mexican food).

• 1 litre goat’s milk
• 225g sugar
• 1 cinnamon stick
• 5g Baking soda (bicarbonate) mixed into 15ml lukewarm water
• 5ml vanilla

First off – start with a big pot- bigger than you think you need, when this gets to bubbling away you will be surprised at the volume you need to contain!  I use my jam pan – it has a heavy bottom and sloping sides so things reduce quickly.

Put the sugar milk and cinnamon stick in the pot- bring to a simmer over medium heat.  When you just start to see tiny little bubbles at the edge- take the pot off the heat and stir in the baking soda.  Put the pot back on the heat.  Keep a close watch – it will start bubbling up soon…stir continuously until it has calmed down, then you only need to stir every few minutes to keep things from sticking to the bottom.  Reduce over medium heat for about an hour. You know it is ready when it is a deep brown caramel colour, has the consistency of honey and you start to see the bottom of the pan when you scrape the mixture to the side.  Pour in to sterilised jars and keep it in the fridge.  It should last a month or more- but  I suspect you will use it all up before then.