Y’all, I LOVE brownies. They’re probably my favorite dessert, most days at least. When I was in college there was a little deli that I had to walk by on my way to my apartment from campus that sold the best brownies. They were fudgy, absolutely huge, and perfectly chocolate-y. You had to eat them with a glass of milk, but they weren’t so rich that you couldn’t eat the whole thing in one go. I had a friend who would often stop by the deli and grab a brownie for my roommate and I on his way over and it truly always made my day.
I had honestly forgotten about this piece of brownie perfection until I took my first bite of the latest (and last) version of these brownies. I hadn’t realized it, but what I was trying to recreate was the brownie from that deli and I sure did it. That first bite brought me right back and it was wonderful. If you’re a fan of a more cake-y brownie, then these are definitely not for you.
I did add a bit of extra fun to the brownies though, in the form of dulce de leche! I had tried a similar recipe and swirled in some caramel sauce but the caramel just melted into the brownies and didn’t create the beautiful, thick swirls after the brownies were cooked that I was looking for. The dulce de leche I had in the fridge did exactly what I had hoped the caramel would do – you get a thick swirl of sweet, caramel-y dulce de leche throughout the rich brownie and it’s just perfect. I could eat these for days, and I probably will!
Here are some tips and variations you can try out with these:
- the flour – I use a combination of whole wheat and all purpose flours here, just to add a tiny bit of nuttiness to balance the sweetness of the dulce de leche. you can definitely use all AP flour if that’s all you’ve got!
- the swirl – I used dulce de leche here but any kind of jam would be amazing as well! I don’t suggest caramel sauce though, any time I’ve tried that it just melts into the brownie and doesn’t add much.
- mix ins – I kept these plain with just the swirl, but if you wanted to throw in 1/2-1 cup of chocolate chips or nuts that would be delicious as well!
That’s it! These are a simple, one bowl dessert that you’re sure to enjoy 🙂
Looking for more? I’ve got a bunch of other brownie recipes on the site for ya:
- s’mores brownies
- Easter brownies
- chocolate strawberry brownies
- dulce de leche brownies
- buckeye brownies
- caramel brookie bars
Dulce de Leche Brownies
Ingredients
- 6 Tbsp (30g) cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup (113g) boiling water
- 2/3 cup (4 oz) chocolate – I used dark chocolate but any will work!
- 6 Tbsp (85g) butter
- 1/4 cup (56g) neutral oil
- 3/4 cup (150g) sugar
- 2 eggs
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 1 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup (66g) AP flour
- 1/4 cup (33g) whole wheat flour, or additional AP flour
- 1/3-1/2 cup dulce de leche, recipe below
How to do it
- prep: preheat the oven to 350*. line an 8×8 pan with foil and lightly grease the foil. set aside
- bloom the cocoa: in a large heatproof bowl combine the cocoa powder and boiling water. whisk until well combined. this will help bring out the flavor of the cocoa and prevent any clumping
- melt the chocolate and butter: add the chocolate, butter, the oil to the cocoa mixture. place the bowl over a pot of simmering water, making sure that the bowl does not touch the water. stir until melted and combined then remove from the heat
- add the wet ingredients: let the cocoa and butter mixture cool for a couple of minutes so you don’t cook the eggs when you add them. add the sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt to the cocoa and butter mixture and combine
- finish the batter: add the flour to the mixture and mix well to combine
- swirl and bake: transfer the batter into the prepared pan. place heaping tablespoons of dulce de leche on the surface of the batter and swirl gently with a butter knife. be sure not to press too hard into the foil at the bottom or you may rip it. bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 minutes until a toothpick comes out with no liquid batter on it
- enjoy: let cool completely before slicing. store in an airtight container at room temp
Dulce de Leche
Ingredients
- 1 can sweetened condensed milk
Two ways to do it
- in a slow cooker: transfer the sweetened condensed milk to a glass jar. place in the bowl of the slow cooker and add enough water to come up the jar to above where the sweetened condensed milk is.
- cook on low for 8-10 hours or until the milk turns into a caramel color. the longer you cook it the deeper the color and the thicker the resulting dulce de leche will be. let cool and store in the fridge
- in the oven: preheat the oven to 225*. choose two baking dishes – they should be wide and flat and the smaller one should fit inside of the bigger one with space between the edges of the dishes
- pour the sweetened condensed milk into the smaller of the two dishes. cover tightly with foil and place in the larger dish. pour boiling water into the larger dish, being careful not to get any into the smaller dish with the milk, until the water comes about halfway up the small dish.
- bake in the preheated oven for 2-3 hours, depending on how dark you want the dulce de leche to be. let cool before storing in the fridge.