Dulce de leche brownies

I found these on David Lebovitz' website. And as far as I'm concerned anything with carmel in it has to be good! So I pulled out everything, not surprisingly I already had all of it in my pantry/fridge, and got busy. There was nothing standing between me and these gooey delights. Except three children, one cat and a sink full of dishes. So after I kicked the kids outside, fed the cat and put the dishes in the dishwasher, I was finally able to get down to business.
The ingredients are Butter, flour, sugar, eggs, dulce de leche, vanilla, semi-sweet chocolate chips and dutch process cocoa. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

First ya melt the butter, awwwww buttterrrrr, in a sauce pan. Then add the chocolate and stir till it is melted and smooth.

Then I added the cocoa powder. So you may be asking whats the dif? Well let me enlighten you, and myself. Dutch cocoa (such as Valrhona) has been alkalized to make it neutral (which means a more delicate flavor) and it does not react with baking soda. Regular cocoa (such as Hersheys) is non-alkalized, and mildly acidic. Ya with me now? Good there will be a quiz tomorrow! Stir the cocoa powder in till it is incorporated.

Remove the mixture from the heat and add the eggs one at a time whisking after each one to incorporate it well. Add the vanilla.

In a large bowl measure out the flour and sugar, pour the chocolate mix into the bowl and stir.

That's it, keep stirring. You could add the nuts now if you like, I personally don't like nuts in my brownies, so I left them out.

You went ahead and prepared your pan(s), right? UGH, ok, well go do it now. I'll wait. Go on, hurry up! READY? I used two pans, just because my larger pan was still in the dishwasher which wasn't finished running yet. So I put foil in the bottom and then coated it with non-stick spray. Now pour 3/4 of the mixture in the bottom. Then top with dollops of the dulce de leche. I used store bought dulce, but you can make your own.......if you dare. Personally, it scares the geewillikers out of me. So as long as Foodlion sells it that's where I'll be getting it from. Then swirl the dulce with a knife and top with dollops of the other 1/4 leftover batter.

Then you pop'em in the oven for about 35-40 min till they are set on the edges, and just lightly firm in the center. They will have a little carryover cooking time, so it will finish setting up as they cool. And as tempting as they are now, let them cool. Not only do they cut easier, but they are even better the second day, if you can hold out that long. Give em a try and let me know what you think.

Dulce de Leche Brownies
15-25 brownies (I doubled it)
8 tablespoons (115 g) salted or unsalted butter, cut into pieces
6 ounces (170 g) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, finely chopped
1/4 cup (25 g) unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 cup (200 g) sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup (140 g) flour
optional: 1 cup (100 g) toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped
1 cup Dulce de leche (or Cajeta)
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. 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.