Dulce De Leche Brownies

The Pioneer Woman's latest cookbook is finally out!! Being the crazy person I am, I've been dying to make something out of it since I got it a couple of days ago and so last night I did! I made the Dulce De Leche Brownies (with complications) and they turned out beautifully! Here's a run down of my adventure in the kitchen..

- I found I had no canned Dulce De Leche. 

- So, I had to make my own.

- I learned that sweetened condensed milk really CAN blow-up in the microwave. 

- I promised myself I'd never cook again if I made it through this alive. (But I lied...)

- I found out AFTER I'd already started everything, that I had no unsweetened baker's chocolate... I wonder why?!?!

- So, I had to substitute.. Who knew you could burn cocoa???

- I then spilled cocoa everywhere.... 

- And I'm blaming part of it on my five-year-old helper. While it was sweet having him "help" me, it also notched up my blood pressure and caused me a bit of stress when he's standing on a chair by the stove with a devilish grin on his face holding a spatula (that I was still using) and licking off the chocolate. Not that that's unusual. 

- In conclusion, we had fun, there is still caramel in various notches and crevices in the kitchen, and we are still cleaning chocolate out of various notches and crevices of the the five-year-old. But we had fun. At least he did. That's all that matters, right??

So let's get started...

You'll need:

Five 1-ounce squares unsweetened (baker's) chocolate

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

1 1/4 cups flour

1 T. vanilla

Half a 14-ounce can Dulce De Leche (or my substitute) 

Now, IF you happen to find that you have no Dulce De Leche on hand (I wouldn't know why?!?!), than you can easily make a substitute. Start by pouring a can of sweetened condensed milk into a microwave safe bowl. Place in the microwave at 50% power for 4 minutes. Stir every minute or so.

It's gonna blow!!!! Keep a good eye on it or what happened to me will happen to you! (It blew up... Everywhere... It was awful..) After microwaving it for 4 minutes at 50% power, kick it down to 30% power for 8-12 minutes. Stir often.

Soon it will have reduced in amount and turned to caramel.. Wonderfully sticky!

Melt your baker's chocolate, or if you have none, melt one stick of butter and mix in 15 T. of cocoa. If you have to microwave it anymore after adding the cocoa, please be careful!!! If it burns, it smells horrid (yes, I know from past experience.. No details..).

Mix until fluffy, your sugar and butter.

Add eggs one at a time, mixing well in between each.

Yummy! 

Now add your chocolate..

Mix chocolate in well and then add your flour.

Mix it well too.

Add the vanilla. 

Mix it.

Spread in a greased 8x8 or 8x10-inch pan...

Drop on dollops of the Dulce De Leche or your substitute.

And swirl with a knife... This is the fun part!

Bake at 325* for 45-60 minutes. 

Let the brownies cool in pan for 15 minutes and then turn out, cut, and enjoy!!

Ashleigh