Sweetened condensed milk

I have a recipe for chocolate frosting. It calls for something like 1 cup of sweetened condensed milk.

Sweetened condensed milk is...

(1) rather expensive
(2) totally delicious

This being the case, I did not think it was prudent to use just a portion of a can of sweetened condensed milk and risk wasting the rest. So every time I tried making this frosting, I tried to figure out just exactly how much sweetened condensed milk there really is in a can, and then do the math, extrapolating by ratios, to figure out what the proper proportions would be to make the whole can into frosting.

It never came out quite right.

Mind you, it is made of sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips and a small bit of butter. There is a limit to how wrong such a combination can be. (Just pointing that out.) Every time I made it, it was absolutely delicious, but it was not always quite the right consistency for frosting.

The last time I made it, I didn't measure much of anything, and it came out fantastic, delicious, superb, and mouthwatering as well.

What I did:

I opened the can of sweetened condensed milk and poured some into a saucepan. It was most of the can, but I did not hold it upside down to drain it, nor did I scrape the sides in any way. Being thick, quite a bit clung to the sides, and this I scraped into a storage container; I would guess I got about 1/3 cup or so out of the can to keep. Maybe 1/2 cup? I don't know. I was being a free spirit.

I placed the sweetened condensed milk in the pan over low heat. While it was heating, I looked for chocolate chips, found them, and measured out approximately 2 cups. By the time I was done doing this, the milk was beginning to bubble a bit. I quicky added the chocolate chips and approximately two tablespoons of butter. It all melted together pretty much instantly, so I removed it from the heat and stirred briskly until it appeared to be a good consistency for spreading on the cake I had.

After spreading and cooling the frosting, I wound up with an AWESOME cake that was truly sublime, a rare treat for the tongue.

But... what to do with the leftover sweetened condensed milk???

DO NOT WORRY! I figured this out!

...You put it in your coffee. Not all of it, about 1-2 tablespoons per cup, depending on how sweet and creamy you like your coffee. Yes, that is what you do, and for a lot less than Starbucks, you get a drink that tastes better than anything they have to offer. This is not a lie. This is the truth. It is also good in English breakfast tea. I know, because I tried it.