Dulche de leche Choco brownies

24th of every month is the sweetest day of our lives. Its a day that reminds us of the birth of our daughter, Vaanya. Today, it has been 2 years and 3 months of our lives full of joy and sunshine. She is growing sweeter and smarter each day. She surprises us with her knowledge that she gains from observing her surroundings and warms our heart with her very sweet words. She loves to sing her nursery rhymes esp when Vishal strums his guitar and she makes it  a point to include me in the fun. She picks up her Santa toy and swings it from side to side while singing her favourite 'Jingle bells'. Even though its not Christmas, Vaanya makes her's and our's Christmas everyday. In her ultra sweet broken pronunciation she sings the entire song in rhythm.

Today the 'Sweet day' on our blog is celebrated with double the sweetness as it is also our Amma's (Vishal's mother) birthday. She is the most amazing, caring, selfless and loving person that I know and I truly feel blessed to be called her daughter(-in-law). What I love about her, besides many more things, is her way of giving quality time to each and everyone. This also includes the number of animals we have as pets at our home in Allahabad. Today we wish her a world of happiness and lots of joy and countless birthdays to come and wish to express how much she means to everyone in our family.  

Dulche de leche was on my to-do list for a long time. I finally took the sinful plunge and could not stop myself from licking it non stop. These brownies were a must on the list to use the dulche de leche. This batch of brownies turned out a typical cakey type and extra yummy with the swirls of the sinful Dulche de leche.

Dulche de Leche - Adapted from David Lebovitz

Ingredients : 

• 1/2 can (200 gm) Condensed milk (I used Milkmaid)

Procedure :

Preheat oven to 220 degree Celsius.

Pour condensed milk in an ovenproof glass dish (I used a Treo square dish)

Place this within the baking tray of the oven and add hot water till it reaches halfway up the sides of the glass dish.

Cover the glass dish with an aluminium foil and bake for 1 hour.

You will need to check the water level and keep adding hot water.

The condensed milk at the end of baking time should have become very thick and turn brownish.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool.

Once cooled down, you may transfer to a tight fitting lid bowl and refrigerate till used.(Mine was good for 2 weeks till I used it all)

Dulche de Leche Choco Brownies- Adapted from David Lebovitz. I halved the original recipe and reduced the quantity of butter, chocolate and eggs.

Ingredients :

• 50 gm unsalted Butter
• 50 gm dark chocolate, chopped in small pieces
• 2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 egg
• 1/2 cup sugar, powdered
• 1/2 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 cup dulche de leche, room temperature
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Procedure : 

Preheat oven to 170 degree Celsius.

Line a Square or loaf pan. I used my 9X4 loaf shaped pan.

Melt butter in a pan or microwave in 10 secs interval till melted. Mine was at room temperature and therefore melted in 10 secs. 

Add the chopped chocolate pieces and stir well till all the pieces have melted.

Whisk in the cocoa powder until smooth.

Add egg and stir in the sugar, vanilla and the flour.

Mix well so that all the ingredients get incorporated well.

Pour half the batter in the prepared tin. 

Drop spoonfuls of half measure of dulche de leche on the brownie batter.

Drag with a knife to give a swirl effect.

Spread the remaining brownie batter over.

Top with spoonfuls of the remaining dulche de leche and use a knife to swirl it.

Bake for 25-30 mins or till the center feels just slightly firm. 

Remove from oven and allow to cool.

Slice in squares and serve.

Notes:

• If you want to make Dulche de leche in the pressure cooker, check here . The only problem is that you will have to use the entire jar. 
• Once refrigerated Dulche de leche gets very thick. To use it, microwave in 10-15 secs interval till thin or add hot cream to it and mix well.

This recipe is part of the KFB Blogging Marathon. Find what my other dear friends are making for the marathon in the following links :
A Homemaker's Diary
Silence Sings
My Food My Life
Recipe Junction

This post is also linked to Little Thumbs Up   hosted by Yen from Eat your heart out

 

Happy Brownie Eating
Amrita

A Chocolatey Chewy Goodness called Oreo Brownies

“Your hand and your mouth agreed many years ago that, as far as chocolate is concerned, there is no need to involve your brain.” 
 Dave Barry

We all love our Chocolate. Don't we? For some it may be their favorite bar, for some their favorite cookie or for some it may be the flavour that they love when it comes to choosing an ice cream or cakes/pastries. I normally belong to the last category but every now and then I do tend to lose my normality!! I am the kind who reads the menu from the back because the desert list is always stacked there. And how much ever I try to pick other flavoured deserts, I fail miserably every single time. I get blackmailed by that brown coloured sinful delight which screams at me to pick it up almost immediately. Imagine your favorite type of chocolate begging at you to get picked up. Can you ever refuse??!! Yes, I belong to that category who can never ever say no to something chocolatey!! So now you may understand my plight when I saw these 'too good to resist' brownies on Saffron Trail.
These are not your everyday kind of Brownies. Every bite is chewy, fudgy and very chocolatey with chunks of Oreo both in the brownies as well as on the crust. The chunks in the batter melt becoming goeey and chewy while the chunks on the top get crisp. Every bite is wicked and loaded with sinful delight. And yes, they are pretty rich, so make sure to share them with your favorite people, how much ever you may be tempted to steal a few and keep aside.
These batch of brownies were made to celebrate our darling daughter's 20 month birthday, which is today. I halved the original recipe and yielded 9 squares which got over in no time. Vaanya loved them the most finishing off a square all by herself. She is my true Choco-lover baby and this recipe turned out one of the best for my Sweet day collection of recipes.

This recipe which is adapted from Lorraine Pascal's Baking made easy calls for whisking the eggs to triple the volume and so thus not require any baking powder. But I added a tsp to avoid my brownie falling flat lest the batter loses any air. You may skip the baking powder or add a tsp like I did to avoid any disaster!! Another change I made was to stick to the original quantity of flour(which is very less). I did not half the quantity of flour as I wanted a certain cakeyness in my brownies but you may do so to your liking.

Ingredients: Yields 9 2x2" squares in a 6x6" square baking tin

• 80 gms unsalted butter
• 100 gms (about 1/2 cup) dark chocolate(finely chopped)
• 2 eggs
• 9-10 Oreo cookies, cut in quarters
• 5 tbsp brown sugar/white sugar(powdered)
• 3 tbsp all purpose flour
• 1/2 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1/4 tsp baking powder

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius. Line a 6x6" square baking tin with butter/parchment paper.

Melt butter in a pan over medium heat and add the chopped chocolate. Stir to combine well.

Take eggs in a bowl and whisk them with an electric mixer till they triple in volume. This should take anywhere between 3-5 mins.

Add the sugar gently from the edge of the bowl to avoid knocking off the air in the eggs. Whisk till incorporated.

Add the chocolate mixture and whisk to incorporate well. (Remember not to mix too much otherwise you will lose all the air in the eggs)

Add flour, cocoa powder and baking powder and fold till combined well. Now add 1/3 of the quartered Oreos.

Pour the batter in the prepared tin. Arrange the leftover quarters of Oreos on top of the batter and bake for 30-35 mins.

Cool and remove from tin. Cut in squares and serve while still warm or warm in the microwave before serving for that ultimate chewy fudgy goeey experience!! Have a bite or have a whole square (or two), you simple cannot resist this Ultimate chocolate experience. One of your best, I bet!

Sending this recipe to Foodabulous Fest event organised by Preeti's kitchen life,

Food corner-Cook like a Celebrity chef and Bake fest#15 brainchild of  Vardhini

Happy Brownie Eating

Amrita