# what to replace for sweetened condensed milk?



## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

I have this recipe for breakfast bars that my family loves, but the one unhealthy ingredient is a can of sweetened condensed milk. Can anyone suggest a good sub?

Here is the recipe (from Nigella Lawson):

2 1/2 c rolled oats
1 c coconut (shredded, organic unsweetened)
1 c seeds (pumpkin, sunflower...)
1 c nuts, lightly toasted, chopped (walnuts, pecans, almonds...)
1 c dried fruit, chopped (cranberries, apricots, blueberries...)
1 can sweetened condensed milk

Mix first 5 things together. Warm up the milk, and combine everything in a greased 9x13 dish. 200F for 1 hour.

Any help is hugely appreciated, thanks.


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## desertpenguin (Apr 15, 2005)

heavy cream with some agave nectar for sweetening? i would use less than what a full can of sweetened condensed milk is...i dunno how many ounces they are? but i think i would use less because sweetened condensed milk is very thick. or you could also try using something to help thicken up the cream, like gelatin or agar-agar? hth.


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

I would use coconut cream with honey.


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## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

mmm, coconut cream! that should work great.

i will try it and report the results here.







:


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## lotus.blossom (Mar 1, 2005)

Brown Rice syrup would work well too!


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## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

Reporting back with version #2:

I used coconut cream, scooped from the top of the Thai Kitchen milk, with agave syrup to sweeten. It didn't cook right, maybe I should have set the temp higher. It came out way too soft to cut into bars, but the oats were starting to brown so I didn't put it back in.

I think I am just going to crumble up this batch and call it granola.

Maybe next I'll try the brown rice syrup. I also want to replace the oats to make it gluten-free, so I can eat it when I start my modified elimination diet (wheat, corn, oats, dairy). I was thinking crispy rice cereal? Or maybe puffed millet? Back to the drawing board...


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

Hmmm, maybe you could try mixing the cream with the water...the cream by itself maybe had too high of a fat content? Sorry it didn't turn out hte way you wanted it!


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## Carley (Aug 16, 2005)

You could use unswetened condensed milk (evaporated milk)


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## savithny (Oct 23, 2005)

The thing about sweetened condensed milk is that it sets up after cooking - that's why its an ingredient in so many of those quick fudges and things like that. It's cooked down a lot and very, very sweetened, and the milk proteins have been both concentrated and somewhat denatured.

If you were going to sub coconut cream, you'd probably have to drain it well - like making yogurt cheese. And then you need a sweetener that crystallizes when heated, like the sugars in the sweetened condensed milk do, so that when you bake it, the bars set up.

Evaporated milk won't work because the water content is much, much too high. I'm guessing that rice syrup probably won't work, unless it crystallizes?

Here: I googled a bit and found this:
http://dld123.com/sweetsavvy/recipes/recipe.php?id=R138


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## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

Thanks for that link!

I crumbled the too-soft batch on to a cookie sheet and baked it for another hour at 250, made wonderful granola! DH enjoyed it with milk, I am going to try it with vanilla hempmilk.

It seems that the sugar really is what holds the bars together. Maybe if I had used a good deal more it would have held together. The SCM is really like a milk syrup. I might have to use confectioner's sugar to dissolve that much sugar into the same volume of a coconut milk, thus defeating the attempt to make it healthier. Tho it would at least be dairy-free. Oh well, so much for that recipe.


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

what kind of coconut cream did you use? because the kind I've always seen is just full of sugar as well.

I'm totally anti tofu, but maybe if you eat it you might try this
http://www.godairyfree.org/Recipes/M...-Milk-III.html


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

I've NEVER seen coconut cream with sugar! What kind do you get???


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## bigeyes (Apr 5, 2007)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *firefaery* 
I've NEVER seen coconut cream with sugar! What kind do you get???

the kind at the grocery store that goes in drinks. I bartended for a gazillion years, it's called coconut cream or cream of coconut.









Oh, just found it on wikipedia. Never seen it. We can get coconut milk in our grocery stores here, and the coconut cream I see is very much like condensed milk, not at all like what you guys are talking about.


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## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

I used the canned coconut milk, Thai Kitchen brand. I have found that it separates into cream on top and watery milk on the bottom, so I don't shake it and spoon the cream off the top.

Other brands do not have the thick layer of cream on top, IME.

ETA - that dairyfree link had some other ideas, like cooking down 3c rice milk with 1/2c sugar until reduced to 1 cup. That might actually work, but knowing me, I would forget about it on the stove and end up with a sticky mess of rice caramel!


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

I use coconut cream concentrate from Tropical Traditions: http://www.tropicaltraditions.com/co...oncentrate.htm

I know many people just skim the top off of coconut milk (the cream separates and rises so this is very easy to do.) I've never heard of any other ways to obtain it. Other than juicing a coconut of course.


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## Panserbjorne (Sep 17, 2003)

Quote:


Originally Posted by *jenmary* 
I used the canned coconut milk, Thai Kitchen brand. I have found that it separates into cream on top and watery milk on the bottom, so I don't shake it and spoon the cream off the top.

Other brands do not have the thick layer of cream on top, IME.

I find that New Native (or whatever it's called) has way more cream than TK. They both taste the same IMO.


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## jenmary (Jul 7, 2006)

:


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## lotus.blossom (Mar 1, 2005)

Heres a recipe that I made that turned out great!

2.5 cups of rice cereal
2 cups oats (I used some granola I made that wasn't too tasty on its own)
1/2 cup chocolate chips (you could use carob or even raisins)
1/2 cup brown sugar (I'm pretty sure I used rice syrup in the place of this)
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1/2 cup peanutbutter
1 tsp vanilla

Heat syrups till boiling. Remove and stir in peanutbutter and vanilla. Mix with the dry ingred and press into pan

They were very sweet so I would probably reduce the honey a bit but they firmed up and were very good!


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