What are you doing in 2016? I think I am still having a hard time swallowing the fact that 2015 has passed so quickly. A crazy year of ups and downs. Mostly ups actually! Yeah! Cooking, baking, reading, listening to tons of new music (Thanks to Apple Music), building stronger friendship, running a family, learning more about raising human beings than I ever thought I’d know… among other million things!

I was busy. I have always been. Day in and day out. And oh god how I enjoy it! I can’t imagine the day I wake up to a quiet morning with no chaos about breakfast eating, lunch packing, outfits picking, mess making, people killing! Sleep-in is so overrated! I am ready to tackle my hectic mornings, manage unlimited houseworks and errands in limited no-kids hours, run my 5k every day, and keep working on this website.

Oh Sweet Day! has become my little hideout from daily routines. I create and share something delicious and nice-looking over here. Sometimes something personal about me and my family. And you guys out there keep reaching out to try the recipes, read stories about my kids, write me comments and emails… Utterly amazing you guys!

And so “What am I doing in 2016?” I will make Oh Sweet Day! a better place. More creative yet do-able recipes. More stories to share. I hope that more of you will come along and say hi!

Here is my first sweet for you in 2016. Also known as caramel shortbread, caramel squares, caramel slices… these millionaire shortbread bars normally have three delicious layers of buttery shortbread, creamy caramel and delicate chocolate topping. I used dulce de leche instead of caramel because I had some leftover in the fridge. And I figured why not. Turned out it was so good! You might argue that caramel and dulce de leche are the same thing. And I believe they are in general. And you can totally go for caramel.

Now a little lesson learnt here. My dulce de leche was a little too runny as you can see in the pictures. It makes the whole thing look super scrumptious I know! But the mess it made when I cut it into squares! Can you imagine the licking and the sticking and the dripping… I would definitely cook it a bit longer next time to thicken it more.

Ingredients (about 16 squares):
1 stick unsalted butter, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup store brought or home made dulce de leche
150 grams dark chocolate, cut into chunks
1/4 cup unsalted butter
2 tablespoons flaked sea salt

Directions:
Grease an 8×8 inch pan. Line pan with parchment paper with a few inches overhang off the sides.
Cream butter and powdered sugar in a bowl of a standing mixer until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla.
Sift in flour and salt. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the flour mixture until just incorporated.
Pat the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan to form a crust. Poke holes into crust using a small fork. Place pan in freezer for 30 minutes to chill.
Preheat oven to 350F. Bake the shortbread crust for 18 to 20 minutes. Let cool completely.
Spoon the dulce de leche over the cooled shortbread crust. Smooth the top with an offset spatula. Place pan in fridge to set for 15 minutes.
Melt chocolate and butter in microwave gradually, 10 second intervals and stirring in-between until very smooth.
Pour chocolate over the set dulce le leche and smooth with a spatula.
Place pan back in fridge for 15 minutes to set the chocolate.
Lift up with edges of parchment paper to remove the whole cookie from pan. Cut into squares. Sprinkles sea salt on top and serve.