- 24
Ingredients
- 3 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 cup white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 2 large or extra large eggs
- 2-3 cups chocolate chips (I used bitter sweet and semi sweet) See recipe notes.
- 1 (13.4 ounce can) dulce de leche, I used Nestle La Lechera
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
- 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt, optional to taste
Preparation
Step 1
Dulce de leche is my go to for a quick trip to caramel town. It’s not exactly like traditional caramel, which is often made with a base of water, sugar, cream and butter. Dulce de leche is milk and sugar based. Some people make their own dulce de leche by slowly heating a can of sweetened condensed milk until the sweetened milk caramelizes. However, I’ve never been moved to go the DIY route on it; this is one item I need not make myself. I’m quite happy to buy a can and have it ready to go in my pantry.
recipe as the base, leaving out the malt and the cocoa, though in retrospect, I’m sure it would also have been delicious had I not made any changes. In either case, the cookie dough mixes up quickly.
I used a combo of bittersweet and semi sweet chips to balance some of the additional sweetness from the caramel. However, if you’re a milk chocolate lover, use those instead. I think the milk chocolate would work nicely with the milky caramel. Or even mix some milk and some semi sweet. White chocolate is also an option, but now you’re getting even sweeter. Bottom line? You have options. Use them as desired.
When served at room temperature, they are thick and chewy. When warmed, they are melty and gooey and in that state, I had no issues with those extra chips. #indecisive They actually eliminated the need for a special topping should you decide to add some ice cream. It was like having hot fudge and caramel built right into the bar. We were pretty excited to have all that extra melty chocolate oozing around the creamy caramel and mixing with the ice cream and cookie. We had some pumpkin ice cream left over from the holidays and that, along with some vanilla was an amazing combo with the warm cookie bar. I’m kind of sad that the pumpkin ice cream is gone. It really added something special to our Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bar “Sundae.”
Once the dough is mixed up, it’s a simple assembly. Press about 2/3 of the dough into the pan and spread with the dulce de leche. I left a border around the dough so that the caramel wouldn’t ooze to the edge of the pan as much. Then using two spoons, just dollop the remainder of the dough evenly over the top. You’re not trying to cover every inch of space; you want space in between so the rivers of caramel are visible. So don’t make yourself crazy. Me? I tried to get it as even as possible since all of your eyes were going to be on the photo :/ But as you can see, it’s not perfect and it baked up just fine.
I hadn’t originally planned to add nuts to this recipe, but it was a winning choice. Turtles are my favorite candy so whenever I make something that has caramel and chocolate in it, I am compelled to add some pecans to get my turtle trifecta. It’s kind of funny…I’ve reminded my family of my love for turtles so many times that you’d think I’d get a small box of them on Valentine’s Day. But I don’t think it’s ever happened.
make
gifts. My husband creates these beautiful and insanely creative 3 dimensional valentine cards, and will spend hours doing so…just for us :) My kids also make cards or homemade gifts like origami flowers or felted flowers or little heart pin cushions for my sewing box. We try to take the time to slow down and do things for each other. #love
Yield:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9" pan with foil. Spray foil lined pan with cooking spray.
In a medium bowl, whisk together, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. Set aside.
In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
Add vanilla and eggs, adding eggs one at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined.
Gradually add flour mixture beating until mostly combined. It's okay to leave some flour streaks.
Add chips and mix until evenly distributed in batter and dry ingredients are no longer visible.
Take about 2/3 of the cookie dough and pat it evenly in prepared pan. (I used a layer of plastic wrap to press the dough into the pan and keep it from sticking to my hands.)
Empty the dulce de leche into a microwave save bowl and heat briefly, maybe 30 seconds, or until easy to spread. Check and stir at 15 second intervals. Don't overheat or you'll have to wait for it to cool down before spreading on dough. You just want to soften it a little.
Allow to fully cool before cutting into bars. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.
*If you don't have flaky sea salt, don't just sprinkle table salt on top. It will likely be too salty. A flaky or coarse salt is best for both flavor and texture. I tried 1/4 teaspoon and wish I would have used a 1/2 teaspoon, which is what I put in the recipe. It's better to be conservative so that you don't over salt. Remember that 1/2 teaspoon of coarse salt is not the same as measuring the same amount of fine grain salt. Less fits into the spoon. In this case, err on the lighter side.
*You can use one kind of chocolate chips or mix different kinds. If you like a sweeter bar, use milk chocolate, or a combo of milk and semisweet.
*The bars are delicious and chewy when cold or room temperature. When warmed for a few seconds in the microwave, the chocolate melts, and the cookie and dulce de leche soften. When warm, they are the perfect base for a scoop of ice cream.
*The bars are hearty. I cut mine into 24 bars for the post, but you could definitely cut into smaller bars and easily get 36-48 smaller servings.
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