Dulce de Leche Brownies

I love caramel.  Or, as Hubby says, "you love carmel".  It's quite the debate in our house.  (I would like to note that Blogger has just placed a beautiful red underline below carmel - thus proving that caramel is correct!)  It has this amazing flavor that shifts between savory and sweet.  I love eating the individual little caramels in the plastic wrappers, and my husband thinks it's gross.  More for me!

Last week I saw that Jen at Beantown Baker made dulce de leche at home.  In her crockpot.  Then I saw that the recipe came from Stephanie at A Year of Slow Cooking.  These are my two primary cooking blogs and it was like my food worlds collided in deliciousness.  Now I'm trying to get back on the weight loss track, so it's hard to justify why it's a good idea to make an entire can of dulce de leche that I will probably just want to eat with a spoon.  I went in search of a recipe to incorporate it and found one for Dulce de Leche Brownies from David Lebovitz.  Granted this is no better than eating an entire can of caramel, but at least I can take these in to work and force them on other people.

I put a 14-ounce can of sweetened condensed milk in the crockpot at about 10:30 p.m. on a Tuesday night.  The milk cooked overnight for about 8.5 hours and I took the can out at about 7:00 a.m. on Wednesday morning.  It didn't cool enough for me to open it before I left for work, so I put the can in the fridge and had to wait until that night to open it.  I couldn't wait to get home!  As I turned the can opener around the lid I got a peak of the light brown caramel and it smelled incredible.  A small taste confirmed that it had worked and I now had 14 ounces of caramel.  I ran upstairs so that my husband could taste, and needless to say he was impressed.

I have another can of milk sitting on my counter, just daring me...



Dulce de Leche
from A Year of Slow Cooking and Beantown Baker
makes 14 ounces 

1 can (14-oz) sweetened condensed milk
Water


Remove the label from the can of sweetened condensed milk.  I made only one can, but feel free to throw in however many you need (or can fit!).

Place the unopened can in the crockpot and fill with water until the can is covered.

Cover and cook on low for 8-9 hours.

Remove can with tongs very carefully.  Open when can is cool enough to the touch.  Eat until sick to your stomach, and refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container.



Dulce de Leche Brownies
recipe from David Lebovitz 
makes ~ 12 brownies

8 Tbsp salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 ounces bittersweet or semi-sweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup cocoa
3 large eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup dulce de leche

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.  

Line an 8-inch square dish with aluminum foil that covers the bottom and reaches up the sides of the dish, hanging over the sides.  If one piece of foil doesn't do the job, use two and cross them.  Grease the bottom and sides of the foil with butter or non-stick cooking spray (I used Pam for Baking).

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, and then the flour.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan.  Drop 1/3 of the dulce de leche, evenly spaced in dollops, over the brownie batter, then use a knife to swirl through.  Spread the remaining brownie batter on top, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining dulce de leche over the top of the batter.  Use your knife again to swirl through.

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

The brownies taste even better the second day.  They'll keep up to 3 days, covered or in an airtight container.  Ours didn't make it that long so I can't really vouch for the timeline.