Caramel Brownies

an ooey, gooey fantastic recipe! brownies batter baked for 20 minutes, then topped with melted caramels and toasted pecans, topped with more brownie batter, then chocolate chips and yet more pecans, then baked for 20 more minutes. time consuming and messy to make -- but worth every second. The recipe came from my second favorite book right now, The Pastry Queen by Rebecca Rather:



I'm not 100% sure what copy write laws are for these sorts of things, but I will post the recipe here since I already posted it

Make sure to give yourself plenty of time if you make them, it's a fairly time consuming process. The caramels take about 10-15 minutes to melt, so you can start that while the brownies are cooling after coming out of the oven the first time. I would love to hear if anyone makes them. :)

Caramel-Filled Brownies

1 1/2 cups pecans
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
12 ounces bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
14 ounces caramel candies, unwrapped
1/3 cup heavy whipping cream
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350. Arrange the pecans on a baking sheet in a single layer and toast -- book says 7 to 9 minutes, but I burned mine going that long -- second time around I only toasted for 5 and they were perfect -- until golden brown and aromatic. Coarsely chop the nuts.

Lina a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil, leaving several inches hanging over the short ends of the pan. Grease the foil with butter or cooking spray. Be sure to grease the sides of the foil-covered pan thoroughly, or the caramel layer in the middle of the brownies will stick. Combine the butter and chocolate in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan set over low heat, stirring occasionally until melted and smooth. (Do not leave it alone or it may burn... I actually used my double boiler set-up to do this... a small metal bowl set on top of a big metal pan with a little water in the bottom of the pan.) Transfer the chocolate mixture to a large bowl. Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla mixing until thick and glossy. This will take 1 to 2 minutes of vigorous mixing with a wire whisk or about 1 minute using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment set on medium high speed. Whisk or stir in the flour and salt. Transfer half the batter (about 2 1/2 cups -- I measured to make sure I had half of it) to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for 20 minutes. Let the brownies cool about 20 minutes.

Stir the caramel and cream in a heavy medium saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in half the pecans. Immediately spread the caramel mixture over the brownies (don't let it sit -- it will harden up) Pour the remaining brownie mixture evenly over the caramel mixture and spread gently gently to cover (do not add the brownie batter in a single clump on top of the caramels otherwise the two layers will end up mixed together as you try to spread the brownie mix) Sprinkle the chocolate chips and remaining pecans on top of the brownie layer. Bake for 20 minutes. Cool the brownies completely in the pan (for quicker cooling, set the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes.)

Grab the foil edges and lift the brownies out of the pan. Cut them in the square. If individually wrapped in plastic wrap, the brownies will keep for 1 week at room temperature or for 1 month in the freezer.