Want to go blondie?

BROWN BUTTER DULCE DE LECHE BLONDIES 

I'm a little mad about brownies at the moment. I made some coconut ones last week and nutty chocolate ones yesterday (recipes to be posted at another time). I will be feeding the nut ones to the family when we meet tomorrow for Mother's Day.

Because I had some leftover condensed milk, I thought I would turn that into dulce de leche and then use it in another sweet. But chocolate brownies again? No, with the dulce de leche, I decided to go with blondies.

I've made coconut dulce de leche before in a microwave oven, which really cuts down on the time. But since I don't have a microwave anymore, I used the stovetop method this time, which took me 35 minutes. Just pour the condensed milk into a saucepan and simmer it over medium-low heat, stirring constantly, until the milk is reduced and thick. However, there is a fine line between oozy dulce de leche and hard toffee so it is important not to let the milk thicken more than it should. This site, which instructs on various methods, provides some guidance.

To all mothers, 

HAPPY MOTHER'S DAY!

Brown Butter Dulce de Leche Blondies
Makes 16

Dulce de leche

150g flour
1 tsp baking powder
110g butter (if using salted butter, omit salt below)
75-90g brown sugar
Large pinch of salt
2 medium eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
140-150g dulce de leche

Line the base and sides of a 20cm square tin with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 180°C.

Sift flour and baking powder together. Set aside.

Melt butter in a saucepan over low heat. Simmer the butter until it turns a golden brown, about 10 minutes.

Whisk the sugar and salt into the brown butter. Set aside to cool until just warm, five to 10 minutes.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time, and the vanilla extract.

Stir in the flour mixture until incorporated.

Spoon two-thirds of the blondie batter into the prepared tin and smooth the top. Scoop little dollops of dulce de leche all over the batter. Scrape the remaining batter on top and smooth it out (no need to be precise).

Run a butter knife through all the layers in swirls (just six or seven swirls will do so that there will still be pockets of the dulce de leche).

Bake until the top is light brown and a toothpick inserted in the centre comes out without any wet crumbs sticking to it, 20 to 25 minutes. Leave in the tin until just warm, then use the paper to remove the slab from the tin. Cut into 16 pieces.