Dulce de Leche Brownies

This is the first time I make brownies from scratch and these my dear, at least for now, are one of the best I’ve ever tried. It’s not hard for me to resist chocolate, but when I saw that these brownies had dulce de leche in them, I ran into the kitchen to bake. The recipe came from Patrícia’s delicious blog, Technicolor Kitchen, who got the recipe from David Lebovitz‘s blog. They didn’t add the nuts, but I like something crunchy in the middle of the brownie, so I didn’t ignore them. I didn’t make my own dulce de leche… I used the tin from Nestlé, which is easy to find around here.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Ingredients

  • 115g salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
  • 170g bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
  • 1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup (200g) caster sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1 cup (140g) flour
  • 1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)
  • 1 cup (250g) dulce de leche (used the tin from Nestlé)

Preparation

  1. Preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF.
  2. Line a 20 cm square pan with a long sheet of aluminum foil that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides. If it doesn’t reach all the way up and over all four sides, cross another sheet of foil over it, making a large cross with edges that overhang the sides. Grease the bottom and sides of the foil with a bit of butter or non-stick spray.
  3. 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.
  4. Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop one-third 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.
  5. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. The brownies are done when the center feels just-slightly firm. Remove from the oven and cool completely.

Yield: 12 large brownies