The secret to my Christmas Neighbor gifts...

I can't take credit for the idea. I was on a site a couple of years ago and a woman was talking about this idea for gifts for the holidays. I bookmarked it, saved it on my computer, and every year forgot until AFTER I put neighbor gifts together that I had this sweet little idea just waiting to be used.

It is so simple that I wonder if I could get away with doing it every year.

I had a few neighbors ask what I did. It looks like I made my own caramel sauce and had it canned. Nope.

Take a can of sweetened condensed milk and put it in a pot and submerge it completely. Turn up the heat and let that baby boil for 3 hours. Yes I said it. 3 hours. 2 hours will get you a light and thin caramel, 4 hours will get you a dark and thick caramel. So depending on what you are wanting you can adjust from there. I think 3 hours is perfect.

Take them out of the water and put on a towel to cool for at least an hour.

I then put their cute little labels on and then wrapped them in cellophane with a couple of apples and they were ready to go!


*A couple of things to know about this little project: 1) when putting several in a pot together do not stack directly on top of one another. The water needs to be able to surround the entire can. Stagger them but don't do them rim to rim...if that makes sense?! I also took tongs and turned them all a bit just to make sure that they all got the boiling treatment.
2) DON'T use a nonstick pot for this. Let me save you the time it took me to scrub the sticky film that was left on mine from where the label glue was still on the cans. An SOS pad will take it right off but when you don't want to ruin the non-stick finish...it was a bit of a problem! :)


OH! And one last thing...check on your boiling water frequently. Never let the water level go below your cans. It can cause the cans to explode. That would not make a very good Christmas memory. That tip is pretty important! :)