At some point in my baking adventures, I plan on trying to make homemade caramels, but I haven’t been brave over the years when it comes to candy making.
I think that’s mostly because I didn’t grow up making candies regularly and only very recently invested in my own candy thermometer. But I am incredibly intrigued by the idea of making my own caramel and have earmarked several recipes that I want to try out at some point.
Part of the reason I want to try it out is because I love caramel so much. As a kid, I loved getting a Sugar Daddy or a box of Sugar Babies during Halloween or Easter.
The other reason is because every time I make a recipe that features caramels I buy from the store, I end up with a huge pile of little plastic wrappers on my kitchen counter. Not only does it make me feel wasteful to create all of that trash for one dish, but I also find it incredibly difficult not to pop those little squares into my mouth as I unwrap each one individually.
So you can say that I’m either environmentalist or I lack self control, but either way I should probably learn how to make this stuff myself. Unfortunately for this week’s recipe, I still have a conquered candy making, so we’ll stick with the stuff from the shelf.
This recipe comes from Sabrina Snyder’s “Dinner Then Dessert” blog. You can find her original post at https://dinnerthendessert.com/fat-witch-bakerys-legendary-chocolate-caramel-brownies/. I added extra vanilla in my version.
Chocolate Caramel Brownies
Ingredients
- 14 tablespoons butter
- 1/2 heaping cup of bittersweet chocolate chips
- 11 ounces caramel squares unwrapped
- 3 eggs
- 1 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
- 3 teaspoons vanilla
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/8 teaspoon salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Prepare an eight-by-eight-inch baking pan by spraying it with cooking spray and lining it with parchment paper.
- In a microwave-safe bowl, heat the butter and chocolate in 30-second increments, stirring in between each. Remove it from the microwave once the butter is fully melted, and continue stirring until the chocolate melts, too.
- Set the bowl aside to cool a bit.
- Place the caramels in another microwave-safe bowl along with two tablespoons water, and microwave for one minute. Remove it from the microwave and let it sit for about two minutes, and then stir until the mixture is smooth.
- In a mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, sugar and vanilla for a couple minutes until the mixture is light and fluffy. Beat in the melted chocolate/butter mixture.
- Beat in the flour and salt until the mixture is smooth.
- Spread half of the batter evenly into the baking pan. Pour the caramel into the pan next, keeping it about one inch away from the edges.
- Place the pan in the refrigerator for 20 minutes or until the caramel is set up.
- Spread the rest of the batter evenly over the top of the caramel layer and bake for 35 minutes. Let the brownies cool before removing them from the pan using the parchment paper and slicing them into squares. Store them in an airtight container.
These brownies were incredibly decadent. Despite my sweet tooth, I was very satisfied with eating just one. They also were a little on the messy side, since the caramel was nice and gooey in the center. I would highly recommend these with a side of ice cream.
And at some point, I am sure I will learn to make caramel myself. Of course, that really only solves the problem of all the extra wrappers, since there’s no way I will be able to resist eating it, too. I mean, somebody’s got to test out the new recipes; it may as well be me.
This piece first appeared in print on March 25, 2021.
Spice Up Your Life is a weekly newspaper column written by Lindsey Young in south central Kansas. If you are interested in sponsoring this column, please contact us through the “Contact Lindsey” link at the top of the page.