Dulce de Leche Bars

These dulce de leche bars are a rich, chewy twist on classic seven layer bars (also called magic cookie bars). Made with just seven ingredients, they’re an incredibly easy dessert that comes together quickly and delivers layers of chocolate, coconut, nuts, and creamy dulce de leche in every bite.

I’ve been reshooting some photos from old posts lately—great recipeswith photos from my very early days of food photography (not a pretty sight). After the cinnamon streusel coffee cake, the second recipe I decided to remake was my classic 7 layer bars.

When I went to make them, I realized I needed to run to the market around the corner for sweetened condensed milk. Right next to it on the shelf was dulce de leche, and immediately the wheels started turning: DULCE DE LECHE BARS!

The result is everything I love about traditional seven layer bars, but with a rich caramel-like layer of dulce de leche in place of the sweetened condensed milk. They’re easy enough for a weeknight dessert but special enough for holiday cookie trays, parties, and sharing with friends.

Why You’ll Love these Dulce de Leche Bars

Just like traditional seven layers bars, these dulce de leche dessert bars have 7 ingredients and come together just as quickly (unless you make your own dulce de leche from scratch).

All the yummy flavors remain the same, but instead of the condensed milk holding the bars together (and being the first thing you sink your teeth into), it’s the sweetened milk so known in Latin American cuisine.

I also love that there aren’t a lot of dishes, so it doesn’t have to feel like a daunting undertaking. Despite the ease, however, these dessert bars have a rich chocolate coconut, and caramel-like flavor.

These are an ideal make-ahead dessert that’s great for parties, potlucks, and the holidays!

Dulce de Leche Bars Ingredients

• ½ cup butter—I always use salted butter
• 1½ cups graham cracker crumbs—I prefer to make my own from whole graham crackers, but you can but the “premade to save time)
• ¾ cup chocolate chips—We only use EnjoyLife chocolate since its free of many allergens
• ¾ cup butterscotch chips
• ¾ cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup nuts chopped—I prefer pecans but walnuts or a mix are fine
• 14 oz.  dulce de leche homemade recipe here

How to Make Dulce de Leche Bars

Prepare the pan.

Preheat oven to 350°F. Place butter in 9×13 pan and place in oven as it preheats until it melts (2-4 minutes). Remove from oven.

Make the graham cracker crust.

Pour the graham cracker crumbs into the melted butter. Mix with fork. Pat into crust on bottom of pan. Be careful as the pan will be hot from the oven.

Add the chocolate chips, nuts, and coconut.

Pour chocolate chips over crust. Sprinkle butterscotch chips, then coconut, and finally nuts over mixture. Drizzle dulce de leche over whole mixture.

Add the dulce de leche.

Drizzle dulce de leche over whole mixture.

Bake.

Bake 30-35 minutes. 

Cool and slice.

Let cool completely before cutting into bars. The corners bars are sometimes hard to get out of the pan, but the rest will come out easily.

Homemade vs. Store-Bought Dulce de Leche

For the easiest version of these dulce de leche bars, I recommend using store-bought dulce de leche. It saves time and is ready to spread straight from the jar or can.

You can also make your own dulce de leche if you prefer. I’ve tried the homemade method, and while it works, there’s one important thing to know: homemade dulce de leche can become very thick once refrigerated. If yours is too thick to spread, gently warm it until it’s smooth and spreadable before adding it to the bars.

If you’re making these for the first time, I’d keep it simple and use store-bought dulce de leche. That way, you can get straight to the good part—seven layers of deliciousness!

If you were to add it right after it came out of the oven, you’d be fine. OR you’d have to stick it back in the oven to heat it up and melt it down before pouring it over the other six ingredients. Because it went on a little thicker, some of the pieces came apart – still delicious but not as pretty.

We enjoyed them happily, but now I know for the next time I make dulce de leche bars – that is if I don’t make these samoa brownies first!

Looking for some other tasty desserts? If you love the combination of chocolate and spices, you’ll die over this Mexican Chocolate Cake and a Iced Mexican Mocha Coffee (secretly also good hot)!

If you just need some good, easy chocolate morsels around the house, try Scottish chocolate tiffin.