Salted Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars

Yummm!  Made these for my first cookie party with my classmates. We technically had a cookie/PJ/movie party, but few people wore actual pajamas and we skipped the movie and just talked.  These cookie bars were soft, sweet-and-salty, caramel-y.  These are made of brown butter, dulce de leche, and brown sugar.  Mine came out lighter in color than the original ones here, but they still tasted good!  They're also very easy to make.

Salted Dulce de Leche Cookie Bars
Recipe here from Bakerita.

• 1 ¾ cup (7 1/4 oz.) unbleached all purpose flour
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• 14 tablespoons (1 3/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon table salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs, room temperature
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup toffee bits
• 1/2 cup dulce de leche
• 1 teaspoon coarse sea salt
  
  (1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9×13 in pan w/ nonstick cooking spray.
  (2) In a sauce pan, melt butter until browned (takes about 5 minutes for butter to begin to brown). Once browned, remove from heat and allow to cool for 5 minutes.
  (3) Add browned butter & sugars to the bowl of a mixer and mix until combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing until completely combined, & then add the vanilla. Turn mixer off & add all  dry ingredients to the bowl. Mix until just combined. Turn mixer off & fold in chocolate chips and toffee bit (*I had caramel candies so I cut those up into tiny bits because I didn't have toffee bits*)
  (4) Press half of dough into the bottom of the pan. Spread 1/2 cup of dulce de leche over the dough. Sprinkle the rest of the dough over the top of the ducle de leche. Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.
  (5) Bake for 15-17 minutes or until light golden brown. Let cool completely before cutting & serving.