Sweet Victory

2/08/11: Dulce de Leche Bars

I'm not sure why, but I always find it easier to write about desserts. Maybe it is because I cannot write a post without a picture and dessert photography is a piece o' cake compared to main entree dishes! I should try to change this habit and make sure I take some snapshots of dishes outside the realm of sweet.

So earlier this month I was planning on making Smitten Kitchen's adaptation of Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Squares, but realized that we were out of graham crackers. Oh dear! And earlier that day I made some dulce de leche (sweet milk in Spanish), out of two cans of sweetened condensed milk. What will I do with it now?

A quick search on the internet brought me to Land O Lakes' website and their Dulce de Leche Bar recipe. Sounds good doesn't it? Knowing that we had all the ingredients, I whipped up a batch and then frowned over the leftover dulce de leche sitting in the double boiler. Leftovers. . .

Now what about frosting? Aha! Frosting! So after mixing together an 8 oz. package of cream cheese (for my family are lovers of cream cheese frosting), a few tablespoons of dulce de leche, and a tad bit of milk, I made my very own frosting for this cake. And the verdict? Sweet victory of course! The bars had a golden brown color and were tender, moist, and sweet; not cloyingly sweet, however. And the bars made a good contrast with the thin layer of frosting on top. Perfect match.

To dress the bars up a bit, I drizzled some dulce de leche over the top of the frosting.