Chocolate Dulce de Leche Crunch Bars

These little bars have a crunchy sweet oatmeal crust and are filled with dark chocolate, walnuts and Dulce de Leche. They are "super easy" to make and your family will love them.

Where did this idea come from? You can thank my fridge and pantry cupboards. I had a bottle of Dulce de Leche left over from a recent recipe. I also had some glorious dark chocolate chunks that were aching to be eaten. I cannot seem to walk by these in the grocery store without buying at least 2 bags at a time.

Lastly, I have had a new bag of oats staring at me in the cereal cupboard for weeks now. These are not quick-cook oats and please, don't use quick-cook in this recipe as it won't have the same desired texture.

I had originally intended to make date bars today but when I saw the possibilities with the ingredients above I just couldn't resist !

Now on with the show !!

You begin with a 9" X 13" baking pan lined with aluminum foil which must overlap the sides slightly. You will use the overlap as handles to remove the cooled bars for cutting.
Spray the lined pan with cooking spray before adding in the bottom crust.

You will need 3 key ingredients for the bar filler: chocolate, dulce de leche and walnuts.
A "threesome" made in heaven

Here is the baked crust awaiting its filling

Spread the Dulce de Leche on top of the crust and add 250g of chopped dark chocolate

Then add 1/2 cup chopped walnuts sprinkled on top

And finish it off with the remaining crust crumble.
These bars are now ready for the oven and the final baking process !

Baked, cut into bars and downright delicious !!

RECIPE:

WHAT YOU NEED

CRUST

1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 3/4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 sticks unsalted butter, cold, grated

FILLING

250g chopped dark chocolate or chocolate chunks
1 450g jar of Dulce de Leche
1/2 cup chopped walnuts

MAKE IT

PREHEAT oven to 350F
LINE 9"x13" with aluminum foil so it overlaps on all sides.
SPRAY sides and bottom with cooking spray
IN LARGE BOWL, combine all ingredients
BLEND with your hands until the crust starts to clump together
PAT 1/2 of crust mixture into pan
BAKE 20 minutes
ALLOW to cool on rack for 20 minutes

SPREAD Dulce de Leche over cooled crust
SPRINKLE chopped chocolate over Dulce de Leche
SPRINKLE chopped walnuts over chocolate
YES, THE LAST STEP!! COVER filling with remaining crust.
PRESS top crust down gently
BAKE 35 minutes
ALLOW to cool 1 hr before lifting out of pan by aluminum sides
CUT into bars

Serve warm with ice cream for a special dessert treat

Dulce de Leche Brownies

More hugs go out to David Lebovitz for this amazing recipe. The result is a rich and dense brownie with that moist texture that truly makes a brownie shine. In this case, the key ingredient is Dulce de Leche which is mixed into the batter.

Initially I was worried it would make the brownies too "gooey" so I only added it as a middle layer. David's recipe calls for it mixed into the middle and then again on the top. I should trust David for he does know best. The brownies were far from gooey and next time I will definitely add the second layer of that creamy, caramel delight
to the top of them as well.

This is the second recipe I have made from David's book The Sweet Life in Paris. I smiled with glee when I saw it too started out with a melted heavenly blend of chocolate and butter. I believe this was somehow missed in the 10 commandments:

"Thou shall start out all good things with chocolate and butter."

Dulce de Leche

The original recipe can be found on David's site but I have re-posted here as well.

Dulce de Leche Brownies

Makes 12 brownies

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
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. 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.

ENJOY !!!

Dulce de Leche photo: © Danelle Mccollum