PASTRY CRUST
½ cup butter softened
(1) 3 ounce package cream cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
Beat the cream cheese and softened butter with electric mixer until well mixed. Add 1 cup of flour while mixer is on low speed, just until well combined. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes or until it is easy to handle (I never chill this dough). Divide this dough into 24 balls. Press the balls into the bottom and up the sides of an (UNgreased) mini (1¾ inch) muffin pan (see note).
FILLING
½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dulce de leche
In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate and butter; heat and stir over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, egg and vanilla.
ASSEMBLY
In the bottom of each pastry-lined cup, place a teaspoon of dulce de leche (you can find a super-easy method for making this caramel HERE. Put the chocolate mixture on top of the dulce de leche (filling pastry cups ¾ full).
BAKE
Bake in preheated 325F oven for 25 minutes (mine baked for almost 30 minutes) or until filling is puffed. Cool in pan for five minutes then gently lift them out. If they do not come out easily, use the tip of a butter knife to help you lift them out. Cool on wire rack.
NOTE: I imagine you could use any caramel in this recipe, although the dulce de leche is super thick and does not get runny when baked.
NOTE: I never chill this dough. Instead, I place the ball of dough in the mini-muffin cup and use the rounded end of my wooden meat grinder plunger (fits perfectly). I just push down gently and evenly on the dough and the pastry cup almost forms itself. If you don’t have anything to try this method with, just use your fingers.
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