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Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

3.60 from 5 votes

Put these Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars on your must make list! A chewy bar cookie filled with coconut, oats, chocolate chips and delicious dulce de leche. No mixer required and they freeze great!

Chocoalte Dulce de Leche bars on a plate with a blue background.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

Are you a bar cookie fan or a drop cookie fan? Personally, my favourite are any kind of bar cookie like my Maple Walnut Bars, Apple Pie Crumble Bars and Partridgeberry Jam Crumble Squares. Just to name a few!

There’s something quite decadent about layers of different textures and flavours with a bar cookie or a square. And these Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars tick all the boxes. And there is no mixer required and they take little time to put together.

Dulce de leche bars on a white plate.
Chewy Dulce de Leche Bars

What Makes These Bar Cookies Great

  • Taste – You just can’t beat the flavours of these dulce de leche cookies. Layers of goodness that you will you going back for more. Crispy at the edges and chewy in the center.
  • Quick & Easy – No mixer required and they use minimal ingredients.
  • Freeze great – You an make these in batches and freeze them. They defrost easily and can be frozen up to two months.
A stack of choaolate oatmeal bars with coconut.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

Ingredients

  • Oats – I used old fashioned rolled oats
  • Coconut – Desiccated coconut which is finely ground coconut
  • Sugar – Granulated white sugar
  • Butter – Unsalted butter
  • Salt – Just regular table salt
  • Dulce de leche – This is a thick caramel spread/filling that you can buy in the supermarket
  • Chocolate chips – I used semi sweet chocolate chips

REMEMBER, The full recipe and ingredients is always found in the recipe card at the end of the post.

Ingredients to make dulce de leche bars.
Ingredients to make the Dulce de Leche Bars

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven – Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line with parchment paper an 8 x 8 inch baking dish and set aside.
  2. Combine base mixture – In a large bowl combine, oats, coconut, sugar, melted butter and salt. Stir really well and you should have a crumbly texture.
  3. Press mixture into pan – In your prepared baking dish, firmly press in the oat mixture, reserving about 1/4 cup (2-3 heaping tablespoons) for the top. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips and then spoon over the dulce de leche. Sprinkle over the remaining oat mixture and top off with the two tablespoons of chocolate chips.
  4. Bake – Bake these in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack.
  5. Cool and cut into squares – Allow the cookie bars to cool completely and then cut into squares or bars.

Recipe Notes

  1. Make sure to firmly press the cookie base into the baking pan.  Otherwise, they may crumble apart when cut. 
  2. Cookies will be baked when they are brown and golden at the edges and still soft through the center.
  3. These bar cookies will set as they cool.  Please, allow them to completely cool before cutting.  Otherwise, they will fall apart as you cut them.
Chocolate dulce de leche bars on a cooling rack on a blue background.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

Substitutions

  • Oats – I used old fashioned oats, but you can use quick oats, instant oats or even steel cut oats (see the chart below)
  • Coconut – I usually use desiccated coconut in baking. You can use shredded coconut.
  • Dulce de leche – I used store bought dulce de leche. You can use condensed milk for this recipe. It will be slightly different, but still delicious.
  • Chocolate chips – Semi sweet chocolate chips were my choice. But for a flavour change you could use milk chocolate chips or white chocolate chips.

A quick Guide to Oats

  • Old-Fashioned Oats – They are flaked and can be used as oatmeal or in baking goods. They also have the best texture
  • Quick-Cooking Oats – These are pre cooked oats that are cut thin for quicker cooking.
  • Instant Oats – very similar to the quick cooking oats. Only real difference is they are cut even thinner for basically instant cooking.
  • Steel Cut Oats – This type isn’t rolled at all. Instead they are cut with a blade. They take the longest to cook and are generally a little chewier.
Close up of the chocolate dulce de leche bars.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

Storage Instructions

  • In the fridge – These dulce de leche bars will keep in the fridge up to 5 days. Just remember to have them stored in an airtight container.
  • In the freezer – Alternatively, you can store these cookie bars in the freezer in an freezer proof container. Just make sure they have completely cooled down. Layer parchment paper between the layers of cookies so they don’t stick together.
  • On a cookie tray or as a gift – These are great cookies to give as a gift or make part of a cookie tray. Just make sure to tell the recipient that they need to be refrigerated.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche bars on a plate.
Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars

Frequently Asked Questions

What is dulce de leche?

Dulce de leche is a confection from Latin America prepared by slowly heating sweetened milk to create a substance that derives its flavour from the Maillard reaction, also changing colour. Dulce de leche is Spanish for “candy [made] of milk

Can you make dulce de leche?

Yes, you can make dulce de leche. You can slow cook condensed milk over simmering water for several hours until it caramelized. Alternatively, you can boil the whole can. Here’s a neat guide to different methods for making your own dulce de leche at home.

Dulce de leche bars stacked on a plate.
Dulce de Leche Bars with Chocolate Chips


Close up of the chocolate dulce de leche bars.
Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Chewy Chocolate and Dulce de Leche Bars

Put these Chocolate Dulce de Leche Bars on your must make list! A chewy bar cookie filled with coconut, oats, chocolate chips and delicious dulce de leche. No mixer required and they freeze great!
Prep Time10 minutes
Cook Time30 minutes
Total Time40 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: North American
Keyword: butter, chocolate, oats
Servings: 25 cookie squares
Calories: 166kcal
Author: Julia Pinney

Ingredients

  • 1 1/2 cups dulce de leche
  • 1 2/3 cups old fashioned rolled oats
  • 3/4 cup shredded coconut
  • 1/2 cup granulated white sugar
  • 1/2 Cup butter unsalted, melted
  • pinch salt
  • 1/2 cup chocolate chips
  • 2 tbsp chocolate chips

Instructions

  • Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and line with parchment paper an 8 x 8 inch baking dish and set aside.
  • In a large bowl combine, oats, coconut, sugar, melted butter and salt. Stir really well and you should have a crumbly texture.
  • In your prepared baking dish, firmly press in the oat mixture, reserving about 1/4 cup (2-3 heaping tablespoons) for the top. Sprinkle over the chocolate chips and then spoon over the dulce de leche. Sprinkle over the remaining oat mixture and top off with the two tablespoons of chocolate chips.
  • Bake these in your preheated oven for about 30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool on a wire rack. Once they are cooled you can cut them into squares. I got 25 squares out of my pan.
  • They can be stored in an airtight container in the fridge for 4 – 5 days. You can also freeze them up to two months.

*A note on times provided: appliances vary, any prep and/or cook times provided are estimates only.

Notes

  1. Make sure to firmly press the cookie base into the baking pan.  Otherwise, they may crumble apart when cut. 
  2. Cookies will be baked when they are brown and golden at the edges and still soft through the center.
  3. These bar cookies will set as they cool.  Please, allow them to completely cool before cutting.  Otherwise, they will fall apart as you cut them.
Nutrition Facts
Chewy Chocolate and Dulce de Leche Bars
Amount Per Serving (1 square)
Calories 166 Calories from Fat 81
% Daily Value*
Fat 9g14%
Saturated Fat 6g38%
Cholesterol 19mg6%
Sodium 73mg3%
Potassium 87mg2%
Carbohydrates 21g7%
Fiber 1g4%
Sugar 17g19%
Protein 2g4%
Vitamin A 203IU4%
Vitamin C 1mg1%
Calcium 54mg5%
Iron 1mg6%
* Percent Daily Values are based on a 2000 calorie diet.

Thanks For Stopping By & Hope To See You Soon!

By on September 23rd, 2022
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