Dulce De Leche Cookie Bars

We adore cookie bars because they are soft and chewy and we can skip the edges if we want and have 3 or 4 sides of thick, soft wonderfulness. These Dulce De Leche Bars are everything to be desired in a cookie bar: soft, rich, and just a little chocolatey. The shortbread-ish crust is flaky and buttery, and the dulce de leche is sweet and gooey. The nuts and chocolate chips lend some pleasant texture. Thank us later.

We wanted to make our own dulce de leche for this… and it turned out horribly at first. We used the ole’ “pour sweetened condensed milk into a dish, cover with foil, and set that dish inside another dish with hot water coming half way up the sides of the dish and cook for 1 hour 15 minutes…blah blah blah” method. Bull. I cooked that junk for 4 hours and it didn’t get any darker than an extremely pale caramel color (and didn’t really thicken). So DON’T use that lame method. What DID work was this method: remove the labels from 2 cans of sweetened condensed milk, set them inside a large pot, cover with water. Bring it to a gentle boil and leave them in there, undisturbed, for 3.5 hours (you may need to add more water as it evaporates). Makes about 2.25 cups.

Dulce De Leche Cookie Bars

 

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Prep time

15 mins

Active time

45 mins

Total time

1 hour

 

Author: Food Network Kitchen

Difficulty: Easy

Serves: 25 bars

Ingredients

• Cooking spray
• 2 cups plus 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
• 1½ sticks (12 tablespoons) cold unsalted butter, diced
• ⅓ cup confectioners' sugar
• 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
• ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 cup dulce de leche
• ¼ cup heavy cream
• 2 large egg yolks
• ¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips
• ¾ cup pecans, chopped

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9-inch-square baking dish with foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on two sides; coat the foil with cooking spray.
2. Pulse 2 cups flour, the butter, confectioners' sugar, 1 teaspoon vanilla and the salt in a food processor until the mixture starts clumping together, about 1 minute. Press firmly and evenly in the bottom and ¼ inch up the sides of the prepared pan. Bake until firm and lightly browned, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer to a rack and let cool 5 minutes.
3. Meanwhile, combine the dulce de leche, heavy cream, egg yolks and the remaining 1 tablespoon flour and 2 teaspoons vanilla in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Pour the mixture over the crust and sprinkle with the chocolate chips and pecans. Return to the oven and bake until set around the edge but slightly jiggly in the center, 20 to 25 minutes.
4. Transfer to the rack and let cool completely. Lift out of the pan using the overhanging foil. Remove the foil and cut into pieces.

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