Salted Caramel Brownies

With a name like "Salted Caramel Brownie", I think we can let the brownie do the talking.  This whole "salty sweet" dessert movement is something I am happy to throw my weight behind.  I had my first salted chocolate about 3 years ago and haven't looked back.

The quest for a good Salted Caramel Brownie recipe started back at Christmas-time...it only took me about 8 months to finally get to making these little buggers.  I am really glad that I took a little time with these and made a couple different caramels to get just the right topping that I had in my head.  Life's too short to spend time eating "meh" desserts.

Now that's the stuff...

Flick and I are dessert-a-holics (Ellie is one in the making) and I love to bake so we are not wired to skip the sweets in our house.  I follow a blog authored by Nicole DeBoom, the founder of Skirt Sports (a pretty rad women's athletic company if you have a chance to check them out...), and she recently posted about her newly hatched fitness motivation: "Dessert Challenge".  Doesn't that sound like something worth undertaking?  The long and short of it is, as a working mom with a crazy busy schedule, she is using dessert as a "carrot" to help motivate her daily workout. 

As most of you know, not only do I love to bake, but I am an outdoor junky - get me on a bike, running on a trail, in a pool, or strapped into a pair of skis and you have one happy mama.  That being said, it isn't always easy to work up the energy or motivation to get out there when sleep is in short order, work is super busy, and the to-do list at home is taking on a life of its own.  My spin on the Dessert Challenge: I make the time to get outside and be active, I then treat myself to dessert at night, which means I get to bake more so that we have sweets (a.k.a.: motivation) around the house.  Triple win.  Endorphins, deliciousness, and making time for my hobbies - bring it!

 I know you are really here for the recipe so here you go.  The brownies are really easy to make (one bowl) and while they are baking, you can work on the caramel so the total time invested really isn't too bad...and they are pretty rich so they can last awhile too (try freezing for even more longevity)!

Salted Caramel Brownies

Brownies (adapted for 5,000ft - sea level adjustments are in parentheses)
recipe courtesy of "Pie in the Sky"

1/2 cup dutch process cocoa
1/2 cup + 1 tablespoon all purpose flour (1/2 cup at sea level)
1 cup minus 1 tablespoon granulated sugar (1 cup at sea level)
1/4 teaspoon salt (1/8 teaspoon at sea level)
3 large eggs (2 eggs at sea level)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted and cooled (6 tablespoons at sea level)
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or 6 oz coarsely chopped chocolate

Coat an 8 inch square baking pan with butter (I usually take a cold stick out of the fridge, unwrap the end and rub it all over the bottom and sides of the pan).  Preheat the oven to 375 degrees (325 degrees at sea-level).

In a large bowl, whisk together the cocoa, flour, sugar and salt.  Make a well in the middle and add in the eggs, vanilla, and melted/cooled butter.

Whisk together the wet ingredients and then begin to work in the dry ingredients.  Add the chocolate chips and using a large spoon, stir/mix until everything is well incorporated.  The batter will be thick.

Scoop the batter into the greased pan and bake for about 30 min (35 min at sea level).  This will be very dependent on your oven so you will have to use some judgement.  The brownies will look dry on top and will start to pull away from the sides.  A cake tester or toothpick should have some moist crumbs on it (it shouldn't "jiggle" like jello when you take it out).  We tend to have to cook longer in our oven so if yours is a hot one, keep this in mind.

Cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack.

Salted Caramel
recipe courtesy of sally'sbakingaddiction

1 cup granulated sugar
6 tablespoons of butter (cut into 6 pieces, 1 tablespoon each)
1/2 cup heavy cream (or whipping cream)
1 teaspoon salt

Heat granulated sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring constantly with a rubber spatula (so it doesn't stick as much).  The sugar will get clumpy and darken and will turn into a syrupy, amber colored liquid.  Keep stirring until it is all melted in, being careful not to burn the sugar.

Once sugar is melted, add the butter - the caramel will bubble up once the butter is added, stir it into the caramel until the butter is melted (2-3 min).

Slowly drizzle in the heavy cream to the butter/sugar mixture.  Again, it will bubble up - keep an eye on it and stir/let boil for about a minute.

Remove from the heat and stir in the salt.  Allow to cool down.

To pull it all together, take the cooled caramel and drizzle it over the cooled brownies.  Use as much or as little as you like.  The extra caramel can be stored in a sealed container in the fridge for other uses...

The caramel will stay gooey - if you want it more firm, keep the brownies in the fridge (this is what we did).  I took some of them to work where they were quickly polished off and Flick and I managed to get through the rest of them.  Tough job, but someone's gotta do it.