Dulce de Leche Brownies

Now that I've bought a few baking equipment over the holidays, I've been baking more frequently just so I can justify my purchases to myself. And also to a few other people as well. Why yes, as it happens, I do need a third cake pan. Stop questioning me. 

I made a recent batch of brownies with my spiffy new cake pan, and I learnt the happiness that comes along with using cake pans with removable bottoms. Once the brownie is baked, just balance the bottom on a bowl and shimmy the sides of the cake pan off. No more messing around with baking paper or aluminium foil just to wrestle the brownie out of the pan. 

Photos courtesy of R Wang.

This brownie is swirled with dollops of dulce de leche to give a nice contrast of sweetness against the intense chocolate of the brownie. Be careful not to over-mix the caramel into the brownie batter, you want big dollops of dulce de leche in the brownies, and not a homogeneous batter. 

Dulce de Leche or Confiture de Lait

Taken from David Lebovitz's The Perfect Scoop (Ten Speed Press)

Ingredients

One 14 ounce (400g) can sweetened condensed milk

pinch of flaky salt

Preheat the oven to 425° F (220° C).

Steps

1. Pour one can (400 gr/14 ounces) of sweetened condensed milk (not evaporated milk) into a glass pie plate or shallow baking dish. Stir in a few flecks of sea salt.

2. Set the pie plate within a larger pan, such as a roasting pan, and add hot water until it reaches halfway up the side of the pie plate.

3. Cover the pie plate snugly with aluminum foil and bake for 1 to 1¼ hours. (Check a few times during baking and add more water to the roasting pan as necessary). Once the Dulce de Leche is nicely browned and caramelized, remove from the oven and let cool. Once cool, whisk until smooth.

Store in the refrigerator until ready to serve. Warm gently in a warm water bath or microwave oven before using. Makes about 1 cup (250ml).

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Makes 12 brownies

Taken from David Lebovitz. 

Ingredients

8 tablespoons (115g) salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces

6 ounces (170g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped

1/4 cup (25g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder

3 large eggs

1 cup (200g) sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup (140g) flour

1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (optional)

1 cup Dulce de Leche (or Cajeta)

Steps

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (175 C).

Line a 8-inch (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.

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.

Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Here comes the fun part: 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.

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.

*I mentioned before how little decoration I do for my desserts, because I don't want icing and silver sugar-balls and what-have-yous competing with the taste of the dessert. But mainly because I'm lazy, and don't want to spend more time than I need to. But I never realised until now how hopeless I am at making my desserts look good until I tried to make a pattern for the dulce de leche (caramelised milk). Which after some time in an oven, turned out to be, well, like this:

If you don't get this, you're a better person than I am. If you do get it, you also see why I'm putting this picture down here instead of at the top.