Caramel Brownies

What a crazy two weeks it's been since Spring Break. I find it more and more difficult to get through the week these days. First of all, Spring Break this year was probably the best Spring Break I've had in a while. I missed my friends so much and we had such a great week together, I was sad when we had to go our separate ways at the end. Coming back home where I have no social life sucked. Second, it's so close to the end of the school year. My seniors have senioritis and it might be rubbing off onto me! Bad. Third, being close to the end of the school year also means we're close to the SOLs, but the students don't realize how soon it actually is. They haven't gotten their act together still and every day my patience is wearing thin. I don't like being cranky, but it seems to be working, so I'll just have to be like this until the end of May.



Okay, maybe I'm not cranky all the time. I sometimes start my day off in good spirits and then the students keep me in good spirits by showing me that they've learned something! Hallelujah. I just had to reward them with something, so these caramel brownies made an appearance on Friday and it was a hit. I've had a bag of Kraft's caramel pieces in the pantry for a while and I wanted to find a use for it, so I just swirled it on top of a batch of brownies. I wish I had discovered this awesome combination before. I decided to use a different brownie recipe instead of using one I've already made before. These brownies are pretty killer. Moist and fudgey and delicious!





Caramel Brownies
From Fork vs Spoon

4 oz semisweet chocolate, melted, slightly cooled
2 sticks unsalted butter, melted, slightly cooled
4 large eggs
1 cup brown sugar
1 cup white sugar
1 tbsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
50 caramel candies, unwrapped (1 18-oz bag, but I used only 11 oz and still worked out fine)
2 tbsp heavy cream or milk

Preheat oven to 350F and grease a 9 x 13 pan.

Beat eggs until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. Beat in brown and white sugar. Slowly add in melted butter, melted chocolate, and vanilla. Mix to combine.

In another bowl, sift together cocoa, salt, baking powder, and flour. Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients, and mix to combine. Do not over mix. With a wooden spoon or spatula, give the batter a final stir, making sure everything from the sides and bottom of bowl are incorporated. Pour into prepared pan and begin to melt caramels.

In a medium sauce pan, place caramels (unwrapped that is!) and heavy cream/milk. Melt over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally. Keep a close eye on the pan, ensuring that the caramels do not scorch, lower heat if this does begin to happen. Once melted, remove from heat.

Once caramels are melted, pour caramel over brownie batter in 3 length-wise rows. Pull a butter knife through batter, going width wise and then length wise, creating a marbled effect. Bake in preheated oven for 25 minutes or until toothpick comes out kinda clean…a few crumbs sticking to toothpick is exactly what you want. Let cool on wire rack before cutting.