I have mentioned a time or two that I don’t bake. I have also mentioned a time or two that I didn’t own a KitchenAid mixer.

So, over the past year, I’ve been trying to correct that. My mother bought me the mixer for my birthday, and I’m trying to do it justice. I have made a few cakes from scratch, and attempted a bread dough or two. I’m still woefully inadequate.

Which is why, usually, I still go to stand-by favorites when it comes to making dessert. If I have the time and no one in particular to serve it to, I’ll practice making new, more involved desserts. But if I have company coming or a special dinner for Mr. Meat and Potatoes, I stick with the basics. And in our house, the basics equals BROWNIES. Yes, from a box. Ghirardelli’s Double Chocolate mix is really hard to beat.

But with Valentine’s Day coming up, I needed something to dress up the brownies, make them a little more special. Man, do I get tired of plain old brownies.

So, because I don’t have much else to do, on Saturday morning I decided to do a little experiment while I cleaned house. As I whipped around the kitchen, putting things away, I noticed a couple of lonely cans of sweetened condensed milk that I’d purchased for another baking project which I’d abandoned some time ago. Did you know that you can make dulce de leche by boiling a can of sweetened condensed milk? That’s right. Just like that.

So I took the can out of the cupboard. My hand shook as I removed the label. IS THIS THING GOING TO EXPLODE ALL OVER MY KITCHEN? WILL IT PUT MY EYE OUT?

I submerged it in water, and set it on medium heat to simmer. I checked back every twenty minutes or so, and added more water. It’s important to keep it submerged. Otherwise, the bottom of the can will get dark and thick and the top will be runny and not as lovely. It takes about 2 hours for light, runnier dulce de leche, or 4 hours for darker, more solid stuff.

Mind you, at this point I had no idea what I would do with dulce de leche if it did, indeed, emerge from this boiled can.

The day wore on and I went about my business – cleaning, visiting friends with new babies, grocery shopping. While at the store, I thought about my unopened can of WHO KNOWS WHAT, sitting on the counter at home, and wondered what I could do with it. I bought a few blocks of cream cheese, some cream and half and half, some powdered sugar, some baking chocolate, and, of course, a brownie mix. Surely, with all of that, I could figure out something that could properly showcase my dulce de leche.

We were going to a dinner party that evening, and I hoped to have something glorious to take with me to share with our guests.

I decided I was too tired to make cheesecake and too unskilled to make any kind of flan or other “real” dessert from scratch. So I went with the brownie mix. Of course. But, to jazz things up, I cooked the brownies in a cupcake tin, with silver liners. Little brownie cupcakes. Very jazzy.

And, I made ice cream out of the dulche de leche. And, IT. WAS. THE. BEST. ICE. CREAM. I. EVER. HAD. And, the easiest. I used my little Cuisinart ice cream maker, the kind with the frozen bowl, and that really helped in the no-mess, no-fuss department.

Dulce de Leche Ice Cream

1 can dulche de leche, made from sweetened condensed milk
3 egg yolks
1 C heavy cream
1 C half and half
1 C whole milk
1/2 tsp vanilla

Step 1) Put the egg yolks, cream, half and half, and milk on the stove and bring to barely boiling. Remove.

Step 2) Add the dulce de leche and vanilla. Cool. It is very important that you let this cool ALL THE WAY, especially if you are using the Cuisinart ice cream maker, because if the liquid is warm it will unthaw the bowl and your ice cream will not freeze solid. Trust me on this.

Step 3) Once the mixture is cool, toss it in the freezer.

Now, my intention was to take those little brownie cupcakes and cut them in half, and smash the ice cream in between, but because A) my ice cream was pretty runny, and B) I’m lazy, we just ate it atop the brownies. And we wept.

This is a perfect dessert for a “non baker” to make. It requires very little skill (except patience, in the cooling department – which I failed), and turns out to be a very impressive and seemingly innovative dish. I recommend making it for your love interest on Valentine’s Day. Or, if you don’t have a love interest this year, make it for yourself, and eat it with glee, because you are lucky! YOU DON’T HAVE TO SHARE.