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Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche BarsChocolate Chip Dulce de LecheChocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars

These Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars work as well for a game day sweet as they do for a casual, but decadent Valentine’s treat.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

They were inspired by my Dulce de Leche Brownies. Have you tried those yet? If you’re a fan of caramel and chocolate, you would love them. Of course, if you love caramel and chocolate, you’ll love these too!

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.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

For those of you who haven’t tried dulce de leche, it’s very thick and creamy, but still has lots of caramel flavor that you’ll love. It’s not exactly like caramel; it’s milky creaminess and silky texture set it apart. It’s absolutely wonderful as another option for those of us who love caramel in all of its forms.

Thankfully, this recipe did not require a lot of testing. I adapted my Malted Milk Chocolate Chip Cookies 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.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

I used 3 cups (about 18 ounces) of chocolate chips, but in the recipe I state, “2-3 cups.” I was conflicted as to whether or not I thought 3 cups was too much. Everyone loved them. With so many chips, though, they almost eat like a cookie candy bar, which is not necessarily a bad thing :) I’m just pointing it out and letting you know you can ease up on the amount. I think I’d try 2 or 2 1/2 cups next time.

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.”

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

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.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

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.

As a mother, you can sometimes feel like you’re talking to an empty room and everything you’re trying to impart to your family, whether it’s a life lesson, a simple question, a stern reminder or a comment on how much you love caramel, chocolate and nuts, often feels like it falls on deaf ears.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

But that’s not generally the case. Okay, well it can be the case a lot of the time. (Cue me screaming into the dark ;) I’m really just joking about the turtles…because instead of going out to buy something on Valentine’s Day, my family chooses to 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

Turtle preferences aside, the pecans are wonderful in these bars and I, personally, would not leave them out. Nor would I leave out the sprinkling of salt on top that works so well with all the sweetness that lies beneath it. My family, who really did listen years ago when I said that I wanted our Valentine’s Day to be homemade and creative instead of store bought, has followed through on that tradition every year since. And clearly, since I’m often the one making the treats around here, I have no issue making these Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars with nuts…

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars. Creamy sweet milk caramel, baked between chocolate chip cookie dough. Add pecans for turtle lovers!

just the way I like ’em.

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars

Chocolate Chip Dulce de Leche Bars

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 teaspoon 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 | https://goo.gl/yoFJWx ]
  • 1/2 cup chopped pecans, optional
  • 1/2 teaspoon fleur de sel or other flaky sea salt, optional to taste

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 13 x 9" pan with foil. Spray foil lined pan with cooking spray.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk together, flour, baking powder, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. Set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugars until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
  4. Add vanilla and eggs, adding eggs one at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined.
  5. Gradually add flour mixture beating until mostly combined. It's okay to leave some flour streaks. 
  6. Add chips and mix until evenly distributed in batter and dry ingredients are no longer visible.
  7. 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.)
  8. 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.
  9. Spread dulce de leche evenly over cookie dough, leaving about a 1/2" border along the edges.
  10. Drop the remaining cookie dough by spoonfuls evenly over the dulce de leche layer.
  11. Sprinkle chopped pecans over the top of the cookie dough, if using. They will likely nestle in between the mounds of cookie dough. That's fine.
  12. Finally, sprinkle fleur de sel evenly over all.
  13. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
  14. Allow to fully cool before cutting into bars. Store leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

*For those with convection ovens, bake at 325 for about 25 minutes.

*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 don't have to use the exact amount of of dulce de leche that I did. Different brands come in different sizes. Just use close to the amount so you can get a nice layer of caramel in your bar.

*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.

*I used 3 cups of chocolate chips, 1 cup was bittersweet, the other 2 cups were semisweet. 3 cups is about 18 ounces of chips. The bars were chock full of chips which many loved. I might reduce the chips to 2 or 2 1/2 cups next time.

*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.

_The Merchant Baker Copyright © 2017

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Mikala

Saturday 27th of June 2020

These were so yummy!!! Definitely a crowd pleaser! Thanks for the recipe 🙌🏼

Ramona

Sunday 28th of June 2020

Happy to hear you enjoyed them, Mikala!

Greer

Tuesday 17th of March 2020

Loved these - so rich and with a bit of a crunch to the crust. I used dark muscovado sugar instead of the typical brown sugar & I think it added a deeper richer almost toffee like flavor. Highly recommend this recipe.

Ramona

Tuesday 17th of March 2020

Thanks, Greer! I'm definitely going to have to try the dark muscovado sugar. I'm all about more toffee flavor :)

Ang

Sunday 10th of March 2019

I feel obliged to let you know I made these, but topped them with mini marshmallows instead of pecans (because, logical substitution, right?) and they are INCREDIBLE. Thanks so much!

Ramona

Monday 11th of March 2019

Ang, your substitution sounds heavenly! Definitely need to try that variation next time :)

Carol G

Wednesday 1st of February 2017

Oh boy-and don't I have Dulce de Leche in the cabinet. These would be perfect for a Super Bowl party.

Thanks Ramona! :)

Ramona

Wednesday 1st of February 2017

Why am I not surprised that you have Dulce de Leche on hand? :) I think they would be a big hit at a Super Bowl party or... any party. They're just an all around fun casual treat with chocolate and caramel and for me, pecans. What could possibly be bad about that?

Phillyraven

Wednesday 1st of February 2017

Ramona these were so delicious!!!! I warmed it up and took a bite and OMG it was soooo good!!! I'm so lucky that your my friend and i don't have to try making your delicious treats on my own...I think this one has found a place in my heart as new favorite.

Ramona

Wednesday 1st of February 2017

I just knew I had to save you some because I was pretty sure you were gonna love them!

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