Dulce de Leche Brownies

Little Ms. and Big Mr. got invited out for dinner last Friday and Little Ms. offered to bring dessert. The dessert had to come together quickly, with ingredients that were on hand and it had to be delicious.
Little Ms.' friend suggested David Lebovitz's blog and there she discovered the perfect recipe for a quick and casual dessert: dulce de leche brownies.
Dulce de leche is a thick South American caramel spread made out of sweetened condensed milk. You can make your own dulce de leche, but Little Ms. used President's Choice brand pre-made dulce de leche.
This recipe was adapted from David Lebovitz's. Little Ms. loves to add a little coffee to any chocolate-based dessert because it amps up the chocolate flavour, so that was done here. The remainder of the adaptions were to account for the fact that Little Ms. only had half the amount of chocolate required for the original recipe. With a little ingenuity and double the cocoa powder, the lesser amount of chocolate is not missed in the least. These brownies come together in a snap (and with very few dishes, always a bonus!)
Recently someone commented that Little Ms. Meals' recipes were for the advanced cook. Little Ms. wanted to take a moment to rebut that presumption. Although some of these recipes may have a lot of ingredients, many of them can be found at your usual grocery store and most of them you may already have on hand. AND - if you don't; leave it out. Remember the Little Ms. Mantra and own it. You can change, substitute or leave out almost anything to these recipes with great success, as long as you measure success by what tastes good to you. Have fun with it!

Dulce de Leche Brownies

1/2 cup butter

3 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped 

1/4 cup brewed black coffee, cooled

2 eggs

3/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3/4 cup cake & pastry powder 

1/2 - 3/4 cup of prepared dulce de leche

Flaked sea salt, to taste (optional)

First prepare the pan. You'll need a 9 x 9 in square pan. Cut two pieces of foil which are long enough to hang over the sides of the pan. The pieces of foil should be about 16 in long each. Fold each piece foil lengthwise so that each piece measures 9 in x 16 in. Place the foil pieces inside the pan, perpendicular to each other so that the bottom and sides of the pan are fully covered with foil. Spray the bottom and sides of the pan with non-stick cooking spray or butter lightly. 

Preheat the oven to 350.

Now prepare the batter. 

Melt the butter and chopped chocolate together in a double boiler. If you use a large glass or metal bowl as your double boiler, as Little Ms. did, it will cut down on dishes as you can add and mix all of your ingredients in this bowl. 

As the chocolate and butter melt, whisk together. Once both the butter and the chocolate are completely melted, whisk to incorporate. Remove the bowl from the top of the double boiler and add coffee. Whisk together and add sugar and cocoa powder. Whisk in eggs.

 Add flour, salt and baking powder to the mixture and whisk just until incorporated.

Pour half of the batter into the prepared pan.
Drop the dulce de leche by the spoonful in a 3 x 3 square. Start by dropping 3 spoonfuls of the caramel about 2 in from the top of the pan on to the top of the batter. Repeat with the next 2 rows. Essentially you're making a grid with spoonfuls of dulce de leche. (The saying "a picture is worth a thousand words" comes to mind here - Little Ms. really wishes she had taken a picture at this stage!)

Using a butter knife or spatula, drag your knife through the dulce de leche to create a swirl pattern with the caramel and the chocolate batter.

Pour the remaining half of the batter over your swirled batter and repeat the dulce de leche grid pattern as above. Drag through with a knife to create a swirl pattern on the top layer. If you're using the flaked sea salt, sprinkle it lightly over the top of the brownies. Like coffee and chocolate, the salt really makes the caramel sing in that delicious, savoury-sweet way. If you haven't tried salted caramel, I would highly recommend it!

Bake in the centre of the pre-heated oven for approximately 20 - 25 minutes. If you like chewy brownies, check on them in the oven after 20 minutes. You'll know that they're done when a tooth pick inserted into the centre of the brownies comes out with a few crumbs clinging to it.

Allow to cool, cut and enjoy!