This is not your normal brownie. This is THE brownie of all the brownies. May I present to you this tripled layered Dulce de Leche Brownie; Chocolate base, crunchy Dulce de Leche center, all topped with a melt-in-your-mouth cream cheese layer. You will never want to go back to a regular brownie!
How I came up with this Brownie recipe?
As you might know, I lived in Argentina for 1.5 years. And Dulce de Leche is BIG in Argentina. If we speak of the Holy 3, it’s basically Diego, Dios and Dulce de Leche =)
So I wanted to create a cake-like dessert recipe that includes Dulce de Leche. And if you’ve ever tried, you know that Dulce de Leche is a super sweet, caramel-like bomb that needs strong counterparts. So I combined it with an indulgent, moist chocolate brownie base, a crunchy nutty center with hazelnuts, and a creamy cheese topping with orange zest to make it a little fresher and to feature yet another texture.
I love to call these ‘Un besito de Dulce de Leche’, even though I must say it’s rather a BESOTE of Dulce de Leche.
Should you make Dulce de Leche yourself?
I like to make my recipes from scratch with as little store-bought, pre-made ingredients as possible. But for Dulce de Leche I make an exception. Store-bought Dulce de Leche usually is made-at-home quality and tastes very delicious. Nowadays, it’s available in a lot of stores worldwide. If you can’t find any Dulce de Leche, replace it with caramel sauce (with as thick of a consistency as you can find).
These are little brownie bombs that will explode in your mouth! Thank you Argentina for this treat!
DULCE DE LECHE BROWNIE
INGREDIENTS
Chocolate Brownie Layer
- 190 g butter
- 190 g dark chocolate
- 150 g cane sugar
- 3 eggs
- 90 g all-purpose flour
- 3 tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 tbsp of water
- 20 g cocoa powder
- 2 tbsp orange liqueur e.g. Cointreau
- 1 pinch of salt
Dulce de Leche Layer
- 180 g hazelnuts peeled
- 480 g dulce de leche
Cream Cheese Layer
- 300 g cream cheese
- 2 eggs
- 50 g white sugar
- 1 small orange zest and juice of it
- 3 drops bitter almond extract
- 1 tbsp all-purpose flour
For Serving
- 2 tbsp cocoa powder
INSTRUCTIONS
Chocolate Brownie Layer
- Line an oven-proof, square baking pan with borders (e.g. gratin pan, approx. 30 x 40 cm) with parchment paper and butter completely, including the borders. Preheat the oven to 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit).
- In a small saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate together over a very low heat.
- In a medium-sized bowl, whisk eggs with sugar using a hand whisk until light and fluffy and at least doubled in volume. Then, add the chocolate-butter mixture and continue whisking until well-integrated. Add the flour, coffee, cocoa, orange liqueur and salt, and mix.
- Fill the baking tin with baking paper, bake at 180 degrees for approx. 20 minutes and let cool.
Dulce de Leche Layer
- In a small, non-stick frying pan, toast the hazelnuts on medium heat while constantly stirring, until they give off a nutty aroma. Transfer onto a cutting board and roughly chop them.
- In a medium bowl, mix dulce de leche with toasted hazelnuts and spread evenly over the brownie base using a spatula.
Cream Cheese Layer
- In a medium-sized bowl, mix the cream cheese with the eggs, sugar, orange zest, flour and bitter almond extract using a hand whisk. Pour over the dulce de leche layer.
- Bake for about 30 minutes on the center rack of the preheated oven at 180° Celsius (356° Fahrenheit), until the cream cheese layer has set. Let it sit in the fridge for at least 4 hours, ideally overnight.
For Serving
- Remove the brownies with the parchment paper from the pan, cut into small squares of approx. 2x2cm (0.79×0.79 inch). Sprinkle them with cocoa powder just before serving.
- Keep them in an airtight container in the fridge for about 5 days.
