This post brought to you by DairyPure Milk. The content and opinions expressed below are that of Stuff Parents Need.

Do you have holiday baking on the brain, yet? I’m stalking Pinterest like it’s my job for fun treat ideas to make with my kids for Halloween, Dia de los Muertos, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and should there be any random dessert holidays in between now and then (National Chocolate Day, anyone?) I’m all over it.

To be ready for all that awesome dessert making, this is usually the time of year when I stock up on sweetened condensed milk. But this year I thought I’d try my hand at making it myself, and I wanted to do this for one main reason:

If I make it, I control the ingredients.

I don’t have to worry that preservatives were added to make it shelf stable. I don’t have to wonder about the quality of the milk (since we all know I’ll be rockin’ the DairyPure, which is my family’s choice for dairy), and I can choose the type of sweetener (for me, that means I’ll pass on that highly processed white stuff and will go for something a little more natural, as well as something organic).

The main thing I learned about how to make condensed milk during my weekend experiment was that it is super easy, but does take quite a long time. So it’s definitely a weekend project, or something to tackle any time you know you will be home and also awake for 3-4 hours. But the good news is that it will take precious little of your attention during that time.

Let’s dig in and learn together how to make condensed milk!

Ingredients:

• 2 cups DairyPure whole milk
• 2/3 cup sweetner of your choice (I chose organic cane sugar)
• 2 2/3 tbsp butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Since having control over the quality of ingredients was a motivator for me to make my own condensed milk, I started with DairyPure milk. This milk come from your local dairy and has an exclusive 5 Point Purity Promise:

• No artificial growth hormones (no significant difference has been shown between milk derived from cows treated with the artificial growth hormone rbST and non‐rbST‐treated cows).
• All milk is tested for antibiotics
• Continuously quality tested to ensure purity
• Only from cows fed a healthy diet
• Cold shipped fresh from your local dairy

Take 2 cups of DairyPure whole milk and add it to a saucepan on medium heat.

Now add 2/3 cup of your chosen sweetener, and stir constantly util the sweetner has dissolved into the milk. Continue stirring until you notice the milk just starting to steam. Now turn the burner to its lowest setting and let it reduce by half, stirring occasionally (I stirred maybe every 15 minutes or so). I found this process to take 3 hours and 15 minutes. I checked to see how much the milk mixture was reduced by simply by pouring it back into the measuring cup.

Once your milk mixture is down to about 1 cup in measurement, it’s time to turn off the burner and add the butter and vanilla extract, whisking constatly until well combined. Now pour the contents into a glass jar with a lid and allow to cool. I can’t say for certain how long this will stay good in the refrigerator, but I would aim to use it up within a few days just to be safe. You might notice that your final product seems a bit runnier than the store bought version. It will thicken as it cools, though I found the end product to still be a bit thinner than what I was expecting. However, I did use it in a recipe and had excellent results. You could also let the milk reduce by more than half, though, if you really want it to be thick.

If you want to Learn more about DairyPure check out the website for details and for your nearest provider. And before you get all your holiday bakign planned out, be sure to look through the DairyPure Recipe inspiration on Pinterest, and follow DairyPure on Facebook for all the latest tips and ideas.

I hope you enjoy your homemade condensed milk and the satisfaction that comes from knowing you did it yourself AND you know exactly what’s in it! 🙂