Transport yourself to Latin America with these Dulce de Leche Brownies. The basic chocolate dessert stepped its game up with this caramel-like delight. The milky, sugary goodness of dulche de leche is to die for!
I’ve discovered something new that’s so good it should get its’ own food group. How have I missed out for so long on this amazing topping! Dulce de leche is a caramel like sauce that is a must to have on hand to drizzle over ice cream or make into dulce de leche brownies. It’s very popular in Latin America, and actually translates into “candy of milk”.
Since discovering how rich and creamy this sauce is I’ve decided that dulce de leche desserts need to be made more often and I’ve added it to cakes, cookies and bars. You can use it anytime you would use a caramel sauce or sweetened condensed milk.
How do you make dulce de leche:
Not having any in the house, but having a can of sweetened condensed milk, I attempted to make it. I can’t begin to tell you what a sticky mess it made in my microwave. After 30 minutes of cleaning every crevice in the microwave from where it had spilled over, I decided it was worth the money to buy a jar. I found it where the biscoff spread and peanut butter are in our grocery, or you can order it.
The color alone is beautiful, just a little darker than caramel. However, if you want to make it yourself, don’t do what I did instead try this method from Epicurious where you cook it slowly in the oven, a lot less mess.
The flavor works great when combined with a dark chocolate brownie. I didn’t use my traditional brownie recipe but found the recipe on Brown Eyed Baker. It has less sugar due to the sweetness of the dulce de leche and more dark chocolate. You can swirl the dulce de leche into the brownies, but I like to have some in every bite, so I spread it between two layers of brownie batter.
What you’ll need for brownies
- Dulce de leche – this comes in a jar and can be found where the peanut butter and biscoff spread is.
- Dark chocolate -my favorite for baking is 60% cocoa. You’ll use 11 ounces plus you’ll need a little cocoa powder.
- Pantry staples – butter, eggs, sugar, brown sugar, flour and vanilla.
Step by step directions
Step 1: Melt the chocolate in a large bowl with the butter in the microwave. Whisk in the sugars and eggs and vanilla. Next add the flour and cocoa powder, don’t overmix.
Step 2: Place half of the brownie mixture into a prepared pan and spread the dulce de leche on top. Next pour the rest of the batter on top and bake.
If you would rather have swirls of dulce de leche in your brownies, then dollop the dulce de leche between the two layers of batter and take a knife and swirl it throughout the pan.
When you combine dulce de leche with a rich chocolate brownie, you get an amazing dessert. So if you’ve been living on some remote island and don’t know about dulce de leche, pick up a jar next time you are on the peanut butter aisle and enjoy these easy dulce de leche brownies.
FAQs and tips
They are both made of milk and sugar, the difference is that dulce de leche has been slowly cooked so that it caramelizes.
No, while they both have a beautiful brown color, caramel has butter along with cream and sugar and dulce de leche is just milk and sugar.
Yes, it needs to be refrigerated because of the dairy in it. It will save in thee refrigerator for a couple of weeks or you can freeze it.
More Chocolate desserts to try
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Dulce de Leche Brownies
Ingredients
- 1¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- 11 ounces dark chocolate 60% cocoa, chopped
- 1 cup butter
- 1½ cups sugar
- ½ cup brown sugar
- 5 eggs room temp
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ¾ cup dulce de leche
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350º. Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper and butter the sides.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder; set aside.
- Place the chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl and microwave on medium power for about 2 minutes, whisking every 30 seconds until just melted.
- Whisk sugars into warm chocolate mixture until incorporated.
- Add eggs one at a time to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined . Stir in the vanilla.
- Fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until just barely combined, don’t over mix.
- Pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle the dulce de leche over the brownie layer, don’t get too close to the edges. Spread it evenly across the brownie layer. Scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the caramel layer smoothing it with a spatula.
- Bake the brownies for 30 minutes. Remove when they start to pull away from the sides, a toothpick should come out with crumbs on it. Remove from the oven and place on a wire rack to cool.
Barbara’s Tips + Notes
- Allow them to cool before cutting, it’s easier to cut if you place them in the refrigerator for a few minutes.
- Don’t overcook the brownies, they will be done when they start to pull away from the pan. You don’t want a toothpick to be dry, it should have some crumbs on it.
- If you want swirls instead of a layer of dulce de leche, add dollops of dulce de leche between the layers and then swirl a knife through it.
Nutrition
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