Dulce De Leche Brownies

I have another confession to make.













I've never made brownies from scratch.

GASP.

I know, right. I've always relied on Betty for my brownies. Infact, I'll tell you a funny story.

About 2 1/2 years ago, I met my current boyfriend. I instantly fell head over heels for him and thought I'd make him some brownies to take over to his house. As soon as he tasted them he was all OMGWTFTHESEAREAMAZING and said "did you make these yourself?" well. I did. I did make them myself. I mixed the box mix. And put them in the oven. I made them myself "Of course I made them myself!!".

As you can see, I failed to tell him that although I made them, they came from a box. I didn't think it was important. I wanted him to think I was the best brownie maker in the world, and that after that, no other woman would compare to me in the brownie making stakes.

Then, about a year and a half later, I was in England and he came across and we went to visit his parents. He promptly tells everyone that I make the best brownies EVER and that I HAVE to bake them. In his house. Uh oh.........his sister happened to save me though - she asked if they were Betty Crocker. And I said yes.

And then my little white lie came undone, everyone laughed, and everything was ok - and of course he didn't leave me for a better brownie maker.

And NOW, about a year and a half after THAT, I've finally made my OWN brownies. That's right, no box mix in sight here!!

And boy are they good. Dulce De Leche Brownies. OMGYUM. I saw the recipe posted at no onion please but it is originally from David Lebovitz. I don't care where it came from, I just care that it came in to my life. Really easy to make too!! Here's the recipe:

INGREDIENTS

115g butter, cut into pieces
170g bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
25g unsweetened cocoa powder
3 large eggs
200g sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
140g flour
optional: 100 g toasted pecans or walnuts, coarsely chopped (I didn't use these because I firmly believe nuts and chocolate are not a match made in heaven. At all. It's a sin to put them together. Really)
1 can (around 390g) Dulce de leche

1. Preheat the oven to 175C. Prepare 20cm square pan – grease it well, you can use aluminium foil or baking paper for lining.

2.Melt the butter and add the chocolate pieces. Once everything has melted remove from heat and whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth. Add in the eggs one at a time, stir in the sugar, vanilla and then the flour. Mix in the nuts, if using.

3. Scrape half of the batter into the prepared pan. Drop one-third of the Dulce de Leche over the brownie batter, then drag a knife through to swirl it slightly. Spread the remaining brownie batter over, then drop spoonfuls of the remaining Dulce de Leche in dollops over the top of the brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the Dulce de Leche slightly.

4. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes. Don't be a glutton like me and eat one while it's still hot - you WILL burn your tongue on the caramel hehe.

Yum!!

ALSO while I'm here, look what my boyfriend bought me for my birthday:

Kitchenaid ICE CREAM ATTACHMENT!! Yessss what a great boyfriend. Now I can make another batch of caramel cheesecake ice cream to blog about. I was going to do it last week, but unfortunately we ate it all before we got a photo of it. Whoops!!