Dulce de Leche Brownies

I had some more Dulce de Leche left in the fridge and was looking for something to make with it when I stumbled on Dave Lebovitz' recipe for Dulce de Leche brownies. (who coincidentally created these for the same reason)

With nearly two chocolate bars in these brownies, they are dense and chocolatey. Three days later they were still incredibly moist. The DLD takes them over the top in sweetness though and trust me when I say these are best served with nothing but a big, tall glass of milk. 

Ingredients

• 8 tbsp butter, cut into pieces
• 6 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
• 1/4 cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
• 3 large eggs at room temperature
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup Dulce de Leche
• optional: 1 cup toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease an 8-inch square pan with butter.
• Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly over very low heat until the chocolate is melted. Remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the sugar, vanilla, then the flour. Mix in the nuts, if using.
• Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan and drop half of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced, over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly. (don't do too much swirling as you want some globs of it all over)
• Bake for 40 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Recipe from Dave Lebovitz

Dulce de Leche

Dulce de leche is the most common name for milk caramel in Spanish. I just call it delicious. It translates into "sweet of milk" and is really similar to a thick caramel sauce. It is common in South America and Central American countries and is used primarily as a spread for toast or a filling for pastries. I used in it in a couple of great desserts I'll share later this week.

I had been seeing a lot of recipes calling for dulce de leche so I thought instead of buying it, I would try making it. If you have the time, it's worth it to "make" it. It really is the easiest thing. There are a few different ways you can make it, but I followed Dave Lebovitz' recipe and it turned out terrific.

Ingredients

• one can sweetened condensed milk
• a few flecks of sea salt

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 425 degrees
• Pour one can of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.
• Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.
• Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1.5 hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary).
• Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.
• Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using.