The Churning Bush

In many ways, the idea of veganising dulce de leche is a bit of a weird one. Dulce de leche at its core is caramelised and toasted milk, so while this recipe follows the usual procedure, using a non-dairy milk will mean you end up with a fairly different product. But just because it’s different, doesn’t mean it’s not good! This ice cream tastes somewhat like toasted oats, which makes sense – it -is- toasted oats, in a round-about way. But it also has some lovely caramel notes from the sugars, and the vanilla really rounds it all off.

When I made this recipe, I tested out 3 other types of plant-based milk (soy, coconut and almond) as well. I then hosted a blind taste test for a few of my friends and the consensus was that the oat milk was the best. Just make sure not to overheat the milk, as it can develop a bit of an unpleasant savoury edge. All in all, this recipe is definitely one that requires a bit of experimentation to get right.

When reducing the oat milk, be sure to stir regularly. The process will take some time and there’s no foolproof way of telling it’s done, beyond development of a nice rich brown colour. I’d recommend leaving yourself time to get a feel for what works for you. The technique used is adapted from a dairy-based process used by Stella Parks, and, if you’ve ever made a dairy-based dulce, handles pretty similarly.

Oat Milk Dulce de Leche

Ingredients

Oat Milk Dulce de Leche
1 Litre	3% Fat oat milk
200 grams	Sucrose (White sugar)
60 grams	Refined coconut oil
2.5 grams	Baking Soda
2 grams	Salt
Milk
400 grams*	3% Fat oat milk
Powders
50 grams	Dextrose (D-glucose)
20 grams	Maltodextrin
5 grams	Stabiliser, such as xanthan gum
Fats
30 grams	Neutral oil

*Or enough to make the oat milk dulce de leche up to 900 grams after it has finished.

Directions

1. Add all the dulce de leche ingredients into a pot and start cooking over a medium-low heat. Stir occasionally while the mixture reduces and browns. It should thicken somewhat and cook down to about 500 grams, while turning an amber-brown colour, similar to a caramel. Once it’s done, add in the remaining oat milk, bringing the contents of the pot to a weight of 900 grams.
2. Add in the rest of the powders as well as the vegetable oil, then heat in a double boiler over medium heat. While the milk heats, slowly incorporate the powders, whisking constantly. When the mixture reaches about 80-85°C (175-185°F), remove from the heat and stick blend for about a minute to further emulsify the oil.
3. Place the ice cream mixture in the fridge once cool enough and leave it there until cooled to 4°C (40°F) or overnight. Sometimes I like to move the mixture to the freezer for the last half hour to get it as cool as possible and help with the churning process, but don’t leave it long enough in the freezer that it starts to solidify.
4. Pour the mixture into your churner and leave it running until fully churned. Being ‘fully churned’ is hard to judge without experience, but your ice cream should have increased somewhat in volume and look a bit denser than soft serve. The time needed will vary dramatically depending on your churner.
5. You can serve your ice cream as soft serve now if you like, or you can put it in the freezer to harden to your desired level. If it’s been in the freezer for more than 12 hours or so, you might need to give the ice cream a bit of time to soften at room temperature before you serve it.