Ingredients
- For the crust:
- 1 stick salted butter, softened
- 1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- For the filling
- 1 14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
- 1 cup heavy cream
- 4 large egg yolks
- 6 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
- For the caramel sauce
- 1/2 cup of sugar
- 1/8 cup of water
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/4 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp vanilla
- sea salt for sprinkling
Preparation
Step 1
Make the dulce de leche:
Puncture top of sweetened condensed milk can, remove label, place can in a small saucepan filled
with water, water should come up 3/4 of the way up the sides. Simmer for 90 minutes or more until sugar caramelizes.
While milk simmers, prepare crust:
Preheat oven to 375°F, Butter a 7 x 10 pyrex dish, line bottom and 2 sides with parchment paper, leaving an overhang. Butter parchment.
Mix butter, brown sugar, salt and cayenne in a bowl on low speed. Mix in flour and blend with fork until a soft dough forms.
Spread dough evenly in baking pan, then prick all over with fork. Bake until golden, 20 minutes, then cool completely.
To make chocolate dulce de leche custard:
Bring cream and 1 cup dulce de leche (save remaining dulce de leche for other use to a simmer in a small heavy saucepan, stirring with a wooden spoon until dulce de leche has dissolved.
Whisk together yolks in a bowl, then slowly whisk in hot cream mixture. Return to pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until pan is visible in tracks of spoon and mixture registers 170°F on an instant-read thermometer. Remove from heat and whisk in chocolate until melted. Pour chocolate mixture over cooled shortbread and chill, uncovered, until cold and set, about 2 hours.
While bars chill, make caramel sauce:
Place sugar in a small saucepan, pour water evenly over top. Set over med-high heat and swirl pan until sugar is dissolved. Increase heat to high, cover, boil syrup for 2 min. Uncover, swirl pan, continue to boil syrup until dark amber in color. Remove from heat. Whisk in butter until smooth. Stir in cream, then vanilla. Let syrup come to remove temperature, then drizzle over chocolate mixture.
Sprinkle lightly with sea salt. Remove from pan using parchment, cut into bars and serve, or keep refrigerated.