Salted Caramel anything is automatically my favorite dessert – I love salted caramel ice cream (especially from Molly Moon’s in Seattle), salted caramels themselves (Fran’s has the BEST – also in Seattle), salted caramel frozen yogurt (new flavor at Chill in STL this month), salted caramel milkshakes (Bailey’s Range in STL has awesome ones!), salted caramel pie, salted caramel chocolate chip cookies… you name it and I love it. So when I saw these brownies on Smitten Kitchen’s blog (a blog Libby and I follow semi-religiously!), I knew these were going straight to the top of my “Next Up to Bake” list!

I brought them to a College Central Fellowship event and they were devoured!!! I even doubled the recipe and they were GONE. And I’m not ashamed to say I had three (although they were cut small so I didn’t feel quite as guilty!).

This recipe is GREAT and I highly recommend you take them to the next event you need to bring a dessert to – so you can’t eat them all because I totally would have if they had been left on my counter…

Salted Caramel Brownies
Recipe from Smitten Kitchen
Makes an 8×8 pan

Ingredients:

Caramel:
1/2 cup sugar
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
3 tablespoons heavy cream

Brownies:
3 oz. unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
1 stick unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Heaped 1/4 teaspoon flaky sea salt
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Directions:

Caramel:
1. Place a square of parchment paper on a plate – spray the plate to keep the paper from slidding off and also spray the paper just to make sure the caramel will come off easily.

2. Melt sugar in a medium saucepan over medium-high heat – about 5 minutes, stirring to break up chunks. It should be copper colored when it is done, if not, cook until it reaches a nice copper. Remove from heat and stir in the butter, then the cream and salt. Return the saucepan to the stovetop and cook over medium high heat, melting it fully and cooking until it is a shade darker.

3. Pour caramel onto the parchment-plate and place in the freezer. Freeze until solid, about 30-40 minutes.

Brownies:
1. While the caramel is firming up, make the brownies. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8×8 inch square baking pan with parchment, making sure that it extends up the sides so you can easily lift the whole thing out. Spray with cooking spray.

2. Melt chocolate and butter together in a heatproof bowl over gently simmering water or melt in the microwave in 30 second bursts, stirring in between. (I did the microwave way because I was impatient). Stir until smooth. Add in sugar, then the eggs, one at a time, then the vanilla and salt. Add flour and mix until combined.

Assembly:
1. When the caramel has hardened, chop into rough 1-inch squares. Gently fold 3/4 of the caramel squares into the batter. Pour batter into prepared pan, spreading evenly. Scatter the remaining caramel squares on top of the batter. Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out clean.