Dulce de Leche Brownies

with Pecan Caramel Crumble Topping.

I used this recipe as a guide, but reduced the sugar in the brownie batter a little, as I didn't have unsweetened chocolate, only 85% cocoa solids. I left off the fudge sauce topping, as I wanted a cake, not a sticky dessert. I also took a guess at how much dulce de leche to use, when converting to metric weights. As suggested in the recipe, I needed to add more flour to the crumble topping to get it dry and crumbly enough to scatter. I left out the cinnamon from the brownie batter but put it into the crumble topping.

The crumble topping was very hard after baking, although it seems to have softened a little during storage. The brownies were overbaked when I tested them at the minimum suggested time, so that might have contributed to the crunchiness of the topping too. The brownie part of the recipe was nothing special - it really needs to be richer - but overall these were saved by the nutty caramel crumble topping which gave a good contrast in texture and flavour. With either more chocolate or more dulce de leche in the batter, and a few minutes less cooking, these could become something very good. I guess replacing the reduced sugar would improve the texture too - we live and learn!

Here's my metric weight conversion, if you are interested.

Brownie Mix:
115g 85% plain chocolate
175g butter
200g caster sugar
50g dark muscovado sugar
50g dulce de Leche
3 large eggs
140g plain flour
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Topping:
80g Dulce de Leche, 60g plain flour, plus more as necessary, 3 tablespoons light muscovado sugar, 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon, 60g pecans, chopped small, 30g melted butter.