Dulce de Leche Bars

Dulce de Leche Bars are made of layers of chocolate chip cookie dough filled with dulce de leche, baked to golden perfection!

They are easy to make and absolutely delicious!

How to make these Dulce de Leche Bars

Starting with our cookie dough, which has chopped macadamia nuts, white chocolate chips, and dark chocolate chips.

The macadamias are optional, or can be substituted for other nuts.

You can also use all milk chocolate chips, or all white, mix and match if you will.

And you can also make this recipe substituting the chocolate chips for chopped Cadbury chocolate eggs, as I have done for Easter.

Once the dough is ready, spread half of the dough on the bottom of a 9×9″ pan..

Then, spread the Dulce de Leche on top of first layer.

Use an offset spatula to spread the dulce de leche on an even layer.

And finally, using floured hands, grab pieces of dough and stretch them open with your hands. Then, place the pieces on top of the dulce de leche, and start patching them up together.

Finally, use slight pressure from your fingers to even out the top cookie dough layer. You can also use an offset spatula to smooth out the dough.

Place your baking tray with dulce de leche bars in the freezer before baking. The reason for that is that you want to solidify the butter in the dough. And this way, when the pan enters the hot oven, the butter won’t start to melt immediately. The gluten formations around the fat particles will be able to establish themselves before the fat melts, which will provide your baked goods with a much better structure, visibly and texture wise.

This step is really optional, I’ve baked them straight after assembling, and it also works.

And when baked, this is what the bars will look like:

Wait for it to cool down. And then you will be able to cut the Dulce de Leche Bars into pieces to enjoy.

I suggest getting them out of the house and into your friend’s hands as soon as possible. Because you WILL want to devour them all.

The pictures don’t do justice on how delicious these Dulce de Leche Bars are.

Dulce de Leche Bars

Camila Hurst

These Dulce de Leche Bars are made of chocolate chip cookie dough, filled with dulce de leche, baked to golden perfection.

5 from 15 votes

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Prep Time 30 minutes mins

Cook Time 1 hour hr

Total Time 1 hour hr 30 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Cuisine American

Servings 16 bars

Calories 400 kcal

Ingredients

  

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• 1 cup unsalted butter at room temperature (226 grams)
• 1/2 cup brown sugar (100 grams)
• 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (318 grams)
• 1 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3/4 cups macadamia nuts chopped (100 grams) optional
• 1/2 cup white chocolate chips (85 grams)
• 1 cup dark chocolate chips (170 grams)
• 1 1/3 cup dulce de leche (396 grams)

Instructions

 

Dulce de Leche Bars

• In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream softened butter for 2 minutes.
• Add sugars gradually, cream for another 2 minutes.
• Add eggs, one at a time. Wait for the first egg to be fully incorporated before adding the next one, scrape the sides of the pan if you have to.
• Add vanilla, mix until combined.
• Mix flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder together.
• Add dry ingredients to batter.
• Mix on low.
• Once flour is almost incorporated, add macadamias, white chocolate chips, and dark chocolate chips.
• Line a 9×9” pan with parchment paper.
• Pour half of the cookie dough on the bottom of the pan.
• Spread Dulce de leche on top.
• Top with the second half of cookie dough. It helps to use floured hands, grab a piece of dough with your hands, kind of open it flat in your hands, and place on top of dulce de leche. And keep doing this in patches, and at the end, smooth the top down by pressing down lightly. See pictures above for reference.
• Place tray in the freezer while you pre-heat the oven to 350F.
• The reason why you will place the baking pan in the freezer before baking, is to solidify the butter in the dough. And this way, when the pan enters the hot oven, the butter won’t start to melt immediately. The gluten formations around the fat particles will be able to establish themselves before the fat melts, which will provide your baked goods with a much better structure, visibly and texture wise.
• Bake bars for 45 to 50 minutes, until the top is golden brown, and the center is set. Cover pan with foil as soon as the top starts to brown, so this way the top won’t burn while the middle stays undercooked.
• Let bars cool completely before cutting them. I even like to place them in the fridge for a few hours before cutting.

Storage

• Store in the fridge, covered, for up to 4 days.

Notes

Note 1: Find out how to make dulce de leche here.

Note 2: The macadamia nuts are optional, you can substitute for any other nuts you’d like, or simply leave them out.

Note 3: To make variations, you can use all dark chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate, milk chocolate, or mix and match instead.

Note 4: To make an Easter version, use chopped Cadbury eggs instead of chocolate chips, or substitute some of the chocolate chips for chopped Cadbury eggs. Top the dough with chopped Cadbury eggs before baking

Nutrition

Serving: 1barCalories: 400kcal

Keyword bars, cookies, dulce de leche

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