Cajeta

With spring comes plentiful milk, fresh from the source. I'm priviledged to have a generous neighbor who is sharing her two milking does (goats, not deer) with me - which means she milks in the morning (for which I'm eternallly grateful, I am SO not a morning person!)and I milk around 7 in the evenings. I get half the milk from each milking, which is usually about 1/2 gal. each day. So every other day or so, I'm making cheeses, or other dairy products such as yogurt.

Making cheese is a long-time yearning. We had milk goats while our kids were youngsters (no pun intended), and I frequently made cottage cheese and yogurt. Now I'm expanding my experiments to more exotic cheeses, and as soon as I can construct a press I'll attempt some hard aged cheeses. For now, I'm enjoying the soft cheeses and other goodies.

Such as this:

Made by a simple process of cooking goat milk, sugar, some corn starch and a pinch of baking soda until it is thick and caramel colored, CAJETA is a Mexican recipe that I found in one of my cheese-making books. Caramel is a family favorite flavor, so of course I had to try this!

It could have cooked a bit longer to be a darker caramel color, but it was nice and thick, just right for topping icecream or cake. Once it was cooled in jars, it was even thicker...
which makes it just right for...
"eating off the spoon"! Yep, I did it. I confess. I dare you to fill a spoon with luscious creamy gooey caramel and then put it back in the jar - HA! I knew you couldn't do it.
All you need to have your own jars of cajeta lounging in your fridge is a goat, some sugar, and TWO HOURS of patience while you stir the cooking mass of calories!