Dulce de Leche Brownies

These are ridiculous brownies.

Layers of brownie, sandwiching goopy dulce de leche caramel. I’d seen a few incarnations of these and today was the day I wanted to…no, needed to, make something rich and chocolatey.

I also thought the boy deserved a treat for his after school snack. He’s been good this Weekend, keeping reasonably quiet as Ed and I nursed hangovers and forgoing his usual weekend pancakes.

I think I achieved my goal, he has just polished off two pieces of brownie and then sang a song about how much he loved them and how he can’t wait for pudding time so he can have another.

Ridiculous.

So there I was, chopping chocolate at 10am on a Monday morning.

Then pouring warm caramel from a gravy boat.

I only used about 3/4 of the can of caramel. The rest is in the fridge.

Later I may smear it on a biscuit, or MY FACE.

Fancy some?

Line an 8″ square tin with parchment and heat the oven to 175 degrees C.

Gather these:

135g butter
100g sugar
55g cocoa
pinch of salt
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 lightly beaten eggs
125g plain flour
75g dark/plain chocolate
1 can of dulce de leche (you don’t need all of it)

Then do this:

Heat the butter, sugar, vanilla, salt and cocoa gently in a heavy pan, stirring until it melts.
It will still be a bit grainy, but don’t let it boil.
Take it off the heat and let it cool a minute then mix in the eggs one at a time.
Mix in the flour, then beat well with a wooden spoon until glossy and thick.
Pour half the mix into the lined pan. Cook at 175 for 10 minutes.
Take it out and let it cool for 10 minutes.
Spread* 1/2 to 3/4 of a can of Carnation caramel or dulce de leche over the cooked brownie.
*I heated mine up first and poured it on, I wouldn’t bother with this step next time.
Spread the rest of the brownie mix over the top, as best you can.
(You may need to give it a light warming if it’s set too much)
Chop the dark chocolate and sprinkle it on top.
Cook for another 18-20 minutes at 170 degrees.
Allow it to cool for half an hour.
Remove from the pan and allow to cool for several hours before you cut it – if you can bear to.

It gets quite messy at that point.