Food, Travel

Dulce de Leche / Doce de Leite

Edit: Thanks to my lovely readers I have now sourced some locations to buy authentic Dulce de Leche in Australia. Firstly online from Mi Casa Fine Foods, or at a store called La Torre, 9 Nelson St Fairfield.

I was recently gifted 2 jars of delicious Dulce de Leche (or in Portuguese Doce de Leite) from my cousin who had just returned from South America. The jar on the left is from Brazil and the jar on the right is from Argentina. This caramel is hugely popular in South America and has been steadily gaining popularity in desserts within Australia.

After doing some taste testing (for scientific purposes of course) I think I am learning towards preferring the Brazilian Doce de Leite – it’s darker and richer and a little less sweet than its Argentinian friend. However both are sublimely delicious and I have been sprung on numerous occasions by my housemate at the refrigerator, spoon in hand.

Now, with nearly a kilo of caramel, what does one do with all of this deliciousness? I can’t keep eating it with a spoon, my teeth will fall out. Here are some of my recipes I am considering using it in:

Sesame Seed Biscuits with Dulce de Leche

I want to whip up a batch of these tasty sesame seed biscuits and sandwich them together with my caramel (a nice and quick way to avoid boiling sweetened condensed milk)

Banoffee Pie with Salted Pretzel Crust

For a super quick Banoffee Pie-  make a biscuit base, spread with the caramel and let set in the fridge. Then top with sliced bananas, whipped cream and shaved chocolate and serve. Too easy!

Ginger Biscuits with Salted Caramel Buttercream

To make salted caramel buttercream simply beat the dulce de leche with butter, icing sugar and a pinch of sea salt until a spreadable consistency is achieved. Then sandwich between ginger cookies, or pipe onto cupcakes.

Some other popular uses in South America include spreading it on bread/toast (like a super sweet and decadent version of peanut butter I guess?!)

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Or freshly cooked churros dipped in dulce de leche. Yum!

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Have you tried the authentic doce de leite before? What are your favourite dulce de leche desserts?

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24 Comments

  • Reply Deb July 3, 2012 at 12:16 pm

    I haven’t seen you do donutty type things… you could do a dulche de leche centred donut ball!

    • Reply Swah July 3, 2012 at 12:21 pm

      I freaking love donuts and have bookmarked a few recipes to try but am so scared of spitting oil! Definitely want to try dulce de leche filled ones though… omg :)

  • Reply claire July 3, 2012 at 1:52 pm

    where can we buy it? :)

    • Reply Swah July 3, 2012 at 2:22 pm

      Hey Claire, I have been scouring the internet for where to buy dulce de leche in Sydney and it seems harder to find than expected! I would try the Spanish Quarter on Liverpool St in the City, or Encasa Deli on Bathurst St.
      Here is a way to make your own http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2005/11/dulce-de-lechec/

    • Reply Jane February 15, 2013 at 11:00 pm

      Hi there, I’m half Argentine and the best Dulce de leche I have found in Australia is the Mi Casa Dulce de leche. You can buy it on their website http://www.micasafinefoods.com.au

      • Reply Swah February 18, 2013 at 12:38 pm

        Thank you so much Jane, I will be putting an order through soon :)

  • Reply Thiago Lucena July 3, 2012 at 3:55 pm

    Hey Sarah,

    I’m Anni’s boyfriend, here from Brazil. I just saw your post on Anni’s wall and i decided to comment here.
    I’m glad that you liked the brazilian Dolce de Leite, Anni and I tried to find better ones, but apparently its hard to find good quality ones around here :)
    Next time I go to AUS, I’ll bring some more with me and I’ll ask Anni to post them to you so you can make some more delicious treats.
    Eat wisely….kkk

    Cheers!

    • Reply Swah July 3, 2012 at 4:32 pm

      Hi Thiago,
      Thank you so so much to you and Anni for getting me these Dolce de Leites! Delicious! I am finding it difficult to find the authentic product here in Australia so I would be very grateful if you sent more over next time you come to Australia. Yay! If you and Anni come down to Sydney I will prepare you guys a dolce de leite based dessert feast :)

  • Reply Alex July 27, 2012 at 11:37 am

    It is amazing for breakfast (!!) with hot croissants & a cup of steaming coffee (cafe con leche!)… I miss argentina :)

    • Reply Swah July 27, 2012 at 11:51 am

      Oh wow dulce de leche for breakfast sounds amazingly decadent!! And I love the idea of adding it to coffee…. I have done that with sweetened condensed milk before Vietnamese-style, and it’s wonderful!!!

  • Reply Laura Alfonsin August 28, 2012 at 12:11 am

    Just for the record….mix dulce de leche with cream cheese, grab any chocolate cookie, make a sandwich…enjoy.
    Also the Chocolina Cake (chocolina is an argentinean cookie, but you can change it): http://exposebuenosaires.com/chocolina-cake/

    Cheers!

    @lalauncensored

    • Reply Swah August 28, 2012 at 9:05 am

      Omg dulce de leche mixed with cream cheese sounds DIVINE! Thank you, I will definitely be making that!

  • Reply Nia February 18, 2013 at 12:19 pm

    I’m so late to repspond to this convo but I thought I’d put in my 2 cents worth :)

    There is a South American cake shop on Nelson st, Fairfield called La Torre where they sell dulce de leche by the kilo or half a kilo.

    It’s smoother than any other I’ve tried and perfect for spoon eating or cooking with. Plus you can also see how they’ve used it in all their cakes and pastries while you’re in the shop!

    • Reply Swah February 18, 2013 at 12:38 pm

      Dulce de Leche by the kilo? This sounds dangerous!! I will definitely be making a trip our to Fairfield to check it out, thanks for the heads up :)

  • Reply DIY Dulce de Leche April 23, 2013 at 10:19 am

    […] year I posted about receiving 2 jars of delicious Dulce de Leche (or in Portuguese Doce de Leite) from my cousin […]

  • Reply Patricia Bell April 28, 2014 at 6:05 pm

    How are you able to get Dulce de Leche from Brazil and Argentina, when I have tried it has been taken away from me because it was made with milk, confiscated in customs !!!! Would love to get my hands on the true stuff from Argentina, it is the one thing I have found that here no one has been able to reproduce . Have tried various ones made here they are not a patch on the originals, living in Perth makes it even harder to try and get some, used to be able to get the Argentine one on the net from Sydney but can not find the importer now.

    • Reply Swah May 7, 2014 at 7:24 am

      Hi Patricia,

      I was fortunate enough to have a family member travelling from there, which is why I was able to secure the real deal! Otherwise I have heard this website is the place to get it online: http://www.micasafinefoods.com.au/

      Good luck!

  • Reply Cindy June 2, 2014 at 4:14 pm

    Real argentinian girl makes handmade dulce de leche in sydney!!!!!!

    https://www.facebook.com/viviargentinianfoodsydney

  • Reply vivi July 6, 2014 at 9:57 pm

    Hola amigos! One friend told me she saw this and think about me, thank you!! If you are in sydney cbd wynyard, im doing hanmade dulce de leche ( 6 hours) and more argentinian food as well, is free delivery in cbd, so happy to see this comment and thank you to Gabby blog to try my DDL :)

  • Reply Alvaro Marmol July 11, 2014 at 6:13 pm

    Hi! I will only buy argentina or uryguayan dulce de leche. The brazilian contains some artificial ingredients. Read at the contains and ask a friend whom speaks the language…

  • Reply Alvaro Marmol July 11, 2014 at 8:51 pm

    And the brazilian is made with powder milk (if I rem right) whilst the Argentina and Uruguayan is made with fresh milk. I recomend u to try ither brands for exampel the argentine San Ignacio or La Salamandra or the uruguayan Conaprole or La Pataia or another. There are many many with dufferent taste. Did u by the way try dulce de leche cookies? The name is Alfajores. Wonderful!

    • Reply Swah July 19, 2014 at 11:26 am

      Thanks for the extra info Alvaro! I used to work with a Argentinian colleague and he brought me Alfajores from a trip once, they were delicious!

  • Reply dave October 28, 2016 at 10:05 am

    you can buy it here in sydney made from Brazil in a deli in Maroubra, Sydney..

    I Find myself just eating it with water crackers! delish

    • Reply Swah November 14, 2016 at 5:19 pm

      Good to know, thanks Dave!

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