Dulce de Leche Brownies

I love Christmas baking and I love it even more when I find something different like this. (Or my friend Miss Morag’s White truffles, which I will blog later).

The recipe says it makes 12 brownies I cut them small to 36, they are very rich.

Adapted from The Sweet Life in Paris (Broadway Books)

120g salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
170g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (30g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup flour
optional: 1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup Dulce de Leche (or Cajeta)

Preheat the oven to 180 C.

Line a 8-inch (20 cm) square pan base with baking paper. I learned last night that it’s probably best to line the sides too. If it doesn’t reach all the way up and over all four sides, cross another sheet over it, making a large cross with edges that overhang the sides. Grease the bottom and sides of the paper as well as under the paper 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. *At this point, when I first made this recipe, the chocolate split. I made a second batch and let the butter chocolate cool a little more before whisking in the eggs. It did split again but only slightly, and came back together with  a good whisking. Be prepared.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Roll up your sleeves :).

Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche, evenly spaced in prune sized globs, 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  as before. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly. too much and you will end up with a mess when it’s cooked.

Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Storage: These brownies actually become better the second day, and will keep well for up to 3 days.

Advertisement