Adventures with The Best Caramel Fruit Dip - EVER.

When Mike and I were first married, he tried very hard to convince me that his Mom made caramel dip by simply boiling a sealed can of evaporated milk.  I didn't believe even a little bit of his many attempts to convince me.  Turns out I was right, but he wasn't too far off - He confused evaporated milk for sweetened condensed milk.  I was still very skeptical, until his Mom made some for a family get together.  Needless to say I was stunned at the gooey, deliciousness that came from the simple can of milk.  For years I have made this divine creation on the stove top.  However, after one mishap in my caramel madness I have seriously cut back how often or even IF I will make it.

I had two lovely cans of milk sitting on the stove in a pot simmering away.  (On the stove they simmer for 3-4 hours and you have to continually add water)  Well, I promptely got carried away doing laundry and other chores and completely forgot my caramel simmering away on the stove.  After a couple of hours I was downstairs in the laundry room and heard a horrific sound from the kitchen upstairs.  I'll be honest - my first thought wasn't "Oh my caramel just blew up".  Nope - my first thought was someone is in the house with a gun!  I was horrified and even called Mike to inform him I was about to meet my maker when the noise went off again!  He stayed on the phone with me as I walked slowly upstairs to meet the masked madman in my kitchen with a gun.....(don't ask me why 911 didn't sound like a good option - but thankfully I refrained.)
I turned the corner into the kitchen to find it splattered with Caramel and then it hit me........I was cooking cans of sweetened milk to make caramel.  Boy was I embarassed.  I quickly hung up with Mike reassuring him the masked criminal hadn't killed me and took a look at my mess.  The pan had run out of water, and the cans because they were still sealed had blown off the top of the can.  The lids flew far across the kitchen and hit a wall and the caramel had exploded everywhere with NONE left in the cans.  My crime scene of caramel took 3+ hours to clean.  Every nook, cranny and corner of my kitchen had caramel drops.  An unbelievable mess!!  It occured to me as I was cleaning that had I walked into the kitchen (or even worse, one of my boys) when they exploded it could have been deadly.  The sharp can lids flew across the room at warp speed I am sure and could have easily taken out an eye or a nose off or caused serious harm.  Not to mention the boiling hot caramel that sprayed throughout the room.  I am thankful, I didn't race upstairs after the first explosion, because I would most definitely have been harmed.  So in essence, my fear saved me. LOL

After that experience I rarely made this divine caramel out of fear for my life.  Then recently, I discovered on Pinterest that this same divine caramel could be crafted in a crock pot, with no fear of reducing water and even less work than the already easy recipe.  So here is the recipe for this delicious caramel, and you no longer have to risk your life to enjoy its goodness!


Worlds Easiest Caramel

What you will need: 

1-2 Cans Sweetened Condensed Milk
Crock Pot
Water
Time


Directions:

Remove the paper labels from the cans of milk.   Place 1-2 cans of sweetened condensed milk in your crock pot.  I placed a washrag underneath them to prevent damaging the crock pot after the first try left marks on the bottom.  Cover the cans completely with water.  Fill the crock pot almost to the top.

 Place the lid on the top and set to low.  Let it cook for 8 hours.  No need to stir, or remove lid at all.

After the 8 hours have passed, turn off and unplug the crock pot.  Allow the cans PLENTY of time to cool before removing.  After a couple of hours you can remove and place on the counter for another couple of hours.

Personally, I make it so it is done when I go to bed and I can just unplug it and let cool until morning.

Once you know they have cooled enough, open the cans with your can opener.  Inside you will find the most delicious piece of heaven there is.  Empty contents into serving bowl and stir to smooth.

Your caramel is ready to eat!  Serve with all kinds of fresh fruits.  Apples are our favorite, but we also use grapes, strawberries, pineapple, peaches, kiwi just about anything.  Even this last time Cassie and I tried carrots and I have to admit - they were delicious!

We have also used this caramel on ice cream - very delicious there too!

I have also been known to spread some on a slice of homemade banana bread - deee-lish!

Two cans make quite a substantial amount of caramel.  Enough for a very large crowd. 

If there happens to be any remaining you can store it in the fridge, it stays very soft and spreadable.

Experiment!  Have fun & Enjoy!