holy taco church

Bready or Not: Dulce de Leche Brownies

Posted by Beth on Feb 10, 2016 in Blog, Bready or Not, brownies, chocolate, holy taco church | Comments Off on Bready or Not: Dulce de Leche Brownies

Right before Valentine’s Day, I like to share new brownie or chocolate recipes. Today I’m posting a recipe that was originally at the Holy Taco Church: Dulce de Leche Brownies.

This is a dangerous recipe, and I’m not just talking calories. Sweetened condensed milk becomes lava after mere minutes in the microwave. Make this recipe with care.

I have had this recipe for ages–I clipped it off a box of Challenge Butter. Mind you, I live in Arizona, so I can easily buy ready-made canned Dulce de Leche at any store, but I wanted to go hardcore to make this accessible to cooks around the world.

There is a warning in the original recipe to watch the bowl closely. This is legit. After the 3rd cooking burst in the microwave, I found my bowl had runneth over. Sweetened condensed milk everywhere. HOT, sticky stuff. Stuff that burns. Yeah.

I cleaned up the microwave and the outside of the bowl as best I could, and from then on, I did 50-60 second cooking bursts, and even then I stopped it early a few times.

Was it worth the clean-up and risk of 3rd degree burns? HECK YEAH. Brownies?! Hello!

This makes a 9×13 pan of luscious, fudgy brownies. If you like’em cakey, you’ll have to go elsewhere. Sorry. The dulce de leche isn’t a super-thick layer. You can’t even see it in most of the bars, but you taste it. It’s ninja dulce de leche.

Subtle. Sweet. Potentially harmful to your health while preparing and while eating.

Modified from recipe from Challenge Butter.

Print Recipe

Bready or Not: Dulce de Leche Brownies

Dulce de Leche adds a layer of sweetness to these luscious, fudgy brownies! This is modified from a Challenge Butter recipe; my version was originally posted at the Holy Taco Church.

Course: Dessert, Snack

Keyword: bars, brownies

Author: Beth Cato

Ingredients

Dulce de Leche

14 oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 Tablespoon corn syrup
2 Tablespoons unsalted butter

Brownies

1 cup unsalted butter 2 sticks, softened
11/4 cups white sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar packed
4 eggs room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon espresso powder optional but awesome
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder sifted
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 recipe Dulce de Leche above (or use canned Dulce de Leche)
1/2 cup chocolate chips

Instructions

To make Dulce de Leche

(Note that you can buy canned Dulce de Leche on the Hispanic foods aisle in many grocery stores and skip this step! You can also make it in a crock pot or stove--look up these other methods online. Microwave is faster, but has some danger involved.)
Combine sweetened condensed milk and corn syrup in a LARGE microwave safe bowl. You need the bowl large because the stuff will start to boil like an erupting volcano.
Microwave on 50% power, stopping and stirring every 2 minutes. Start watching VERY CAREFULLY about the 5 minute point. It will start to boil over very quickly. Start doing 1 minute increments, stirring well in between. At the 10 to 12 minute point, it will thicken and look caramel-colored rather than white. It might look curdled but that goes away when you stir. Add in the butter and stir until it's melted. Set aside.

To Make the Brownies

Preheat oven to 325-degrees F. Line a 9x13 pan with foil and butter it or spray it with Pam.
In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in eggs and vanilla. Combine flour, espresso powder (if using), cocoa, and salt. Add dry ingredients into creamed mixture; mix until well blended.
Spread about 1/2 of mixture in the prepared pan. This will just cover the bottom. Drop spoonfuls of Dulce de Leche evenly over this layer and smooth out. Sprinkle chocolate chips all over. Cover with remaining brownie batter; an offset spatula is great to smooth it to the edges.
Bake 35 to 40 minutes. Cool and cut into squares.
OM NOM NOM!

Playing Catch-Up: Podcasts, Poetry, & Other News

Posted by Beth on Nov 24, 2015 in anthology:poem, Blog, breath of earth, clockwork dagger shorts, holy taco church, novelocity, podcast, public speaking | Comments Off on Playing Catch-Up: Podcasts, Poetry, & Other News

I turned in my Breath of Earth edits to my editor last week. That took a huge burden off of me, but I haven’t been able to take it easy. Revisions ate my brain and my time, so I fell behind on everything else: short story and poetry re-submissions, story edits for myself and for other editors, my web site, general organization… and let’s not even talk about the cleanliness (or lack thereof) of my house. It’s a good thing we have therapists here a few times a week since that forces me to keep the main living areas in decent shape.

I have also, belatedly, jumped into Thanksgiving prep. I made and froze a couple batches of my soft dinner rolls and soft and chewy chocolate chip cookie dough and compiled ingredients for two different kinds of dressing and some other sides to feed company. I love doing all this, but I confess, this year I feel flustered and frantic as I ready myself for the holidays and catch up on everything else.

As part of that catch up, here are my latest publications and tour spots:

Podcasts:
SFSignal interview with Beth Cato, by Patrick Hester; recorded at Sasquan/WorldCon
Reading and Writing Podcast discussion with Beth Cato

Poetry:
“Riders of the Apocalypse: Death” and “Hera Herself, at 8’clock Tonight,” Grievous Angel
Reminisces of a Kraken Caretaker, Devilfish Review

Holy Taco Church:
Yummy Marinade for Chicken

Novelocity:
Advice for NaNoWriMo as Posted on Twitter

As part of the Wings of Sorrow and Bone tour:
GeekMom’s Geek Speaks… Fiction! with Gremlins Galore! Geeking Out About Hideously Adorable Sidekicks
The Writer’s Life eMagazine interview with me

#SFWAPro

Scary Tacos and More

Posted by Beth on Oct 23, 2015 in Blog, clockwork crown, clockwork dagger shorts, holy taco church, novelocity, public speaking | Comments Off on Scary Tacos and More

[Important High Priestess duties include taste-testing margaritas. Quality control, y’know.]

Last weekend I made my annual pilgrimage to the Arizona Taco Festival. It was glorious! I have a full write-up over at the Holy Taco Church.

At Novelocity, I share Five Not-Horror Books to Creep You Out for Halloween! If you’re in the mood for dark fantasy, check these out.

Fear seems to be something of a theme right now… it’s just that time of year! I’m in an SF Signal Mind Meld on The Children’s Movies That Scared Us the Most and I was also interviewed by Pat Esden (who has a forthcoming Bready or Not guest spot) about Real vs Imaginary Fears and Wings of Sorrow and Bone.

In totally different non-scary news, Reb Kreyling posted a wonderful review of Clockwork Crown! Yay!

Halfway through October

Posted by Beth on Oct 15, 2015 in anthology:poem, Blog, holy taco church | Comments Off on Halfway through October

Ever have one of those weeks when everything happens, both good and bad? Yeah. That’s this week for me. My son is on fall break. I came down with a nasty cold that has now reached the cough- sniffle-and-have-no-voice stage. There are extra appointments because it’s fall break. I have family in town. ALL THE THINGS.

Along with that, I even had a new batch of poetry publications!

– “Why You Will Listen and Drown” in Starline 38.4
– Zetetic: A Record of Unusual Inquiry reprinted “Barstow”
– “For the Cause” is in the race-themed issue of Eye to the Telescope

Oh yeah, and last week I had a post up at the Holy Taco Church: Dulce de Leche Brownies and how they will try to kill you.

Catching up on June

Posted by Beth on Jul 13, 2015 in anthology:poem, anthology:story, Blog, holy taco church, online publication | Comments Off on Catching up on June

I’m an introvert. I like my cozy cave and routine. June was filled with book release and family and travel, and I feel like I’m still picking out things from rubble. Therefore, here are publications I had going back to June (other than Clockwork Crown) and other stuff.

At the Holy Taco Church:
– my recipe for this month is Porter Beer Chicken Thighs in the Slow Cooker!

From Phoenix Comicon:
– I posed for a picture for the great group Kids Need to Read. (Of all the shirts I had to wear that day…)

In the media:
– Michele Brittany wrote up a great article on my San Diego Comic-Con “Romantic Adventure” panel for Bleeding Cool.

At SF Signal:
– I took part in a Mind Meld on great detectives stories in speculative fiction! If you love mysteries mixed with scifi and magic, check this out and add to your to-read pile.

New story:
– “Headspace” in the Cats in Space anthology; on Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This story is pure fun: about a kitten named Trouble who ends up on a very interesting ride through deep space.