Dulce de Leche Brownies

Bastardized from... um, I mean inspired by David Lebovitz's Dulce de Leche Brownie recipe and Cooking for Engineer's brownie recipe

• 6 oz bittersweet chocolate
• 6 oz butter, unsalted (1 1/2 sticks)
• 1 c sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1 c flour
• 1 c dulce de leche

Preheat oven to 325F and butter and flour/cocoa an 8x8 brownie pan.

Beat eggs and vanilla together. Set aside.

Melt the butter and chocolate slowly in a double boiler. Once the butter and chocolate have melted together and are mixed together nicely, take off the heat. Mix in the sugar and then the egg mixture. Once that has been full mixed and incorporated, fold in the flour to form a thick batter.

Spoon 1/2 of the brownie batter in the bottom of the prepared pan. Spoon half the dulce de leche in blobs onto the brownie batter. Swirl with a skewer or knife. Spoon the rest of the brownie batter and repeat the process with spooning the dulce and swirling with a knife.

Bake for 35 ~ 45 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with fudgy crumbs. Cool on a wire rack completely before cutting into 2x2 squares.

Makes 16 brownies

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The original Cooking for Engineers brownie recipe called for 1.5 c of sugar which I reduced to 1 c. I thought that the dulce de leche would add enough sweetness to the batter and I was right. The still slightly bitter dark chocolate is well offset by the dulce de leche. Any more sugar and it would have been far too sweet.

My dulce de leche had been made ahead of time and I had taken it from the refrigerator. As I suspected, it was pretty blobbish and unspreadable. That was easily rectified by warming gently in a double boiler. I also thinned it out with just a splash of milk which made it easy to make it the same consistency as the batter.

I love the dual layer of dulce de leche in the brownies from the two swirled layers. It's nice to have dulce de leche both in the middle of the brownie and the top of the brownie. But I think I will make it in an 11 x 13 pan next time. Although I like the 2x2 size of the the brownies, they are much too thick for me and I think it would be better if they were thinner and larger (closer to 3x3) to really showcase the dulce de leche.

This is brownie is really rich and really needs milk to help offset its decadence. Oh and it's even better the second day. If they last that long ;) If you refrigerate your brownies to prolong the love, make sure to let it sit out at room temperature for at least 15 minutes before serving. It tastes much better at room temperature.