Caramel Candy Brownies

Caramel Candy Brownies - made June 20, 2015 from, recipe adapted from Two Peas and Their Pod

This is one of those recipes I felt compelled to make because I’d pinned it so long ago that it’s taken up permanent residence on my pinboard and I felt guilty every time I passed it over to try out a different recipe I’d pinned. I know, dumb, right? Because I could also just as easily delete the pin and not have it mock me that I haven’t done anything with it since the beginning of time. 

It was originally supposed to be made with Twix bars but I didn’t have any on hand. I did have Kit Kats left over from the Kitty KatKrunch Brownies plus some Milky Way caramels and, serendipitously, a bit of salted caramel just crying to be used. So that seemed reason enough to give this recipe a try.

To be honest, one of the reasons I’d procrastinated on trying this one is the chocolate comes all from cocoa powder. Nothing (really) wrong with that except in my experience, all-cocoa powder brownies tend to be more cakey than fudgy. It just makes for a lighter texture, even with underbaking. And you know me, I want my brownies to be dense. Fudgy. If fudge and cake were fighting to blend together, I’d knock out cake so fudge could win.

Turns out I was right. This was fudgy enough because I did underbake it but it still had more of a cakey texture than a super-fudgy one, kind of like box-mix brownies. Plus, swirling in the caramel without parbaking the brownie always results in the caramel sinking to the bottom then it’s always a battle to cut cleanly and separate the brownie from the foil lining because of the caramel goo. And I can’t say I liked the crackly crust either. As brownies go, these were okay but you know I’m a brownie snob so while my taste testers (i.e. friends and coworkers) loved these, I thought they were just okay.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 large eggs
3/4 cup cocoa
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups chopped Twix candy bars (can also substitute Kit Kats and Milky Way Caramels)
1/3 cup caramel ice cream topping (I used salted caramel sauce from Trader Joe's)

1. Heat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with aluminum foil and lightly spray with cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Place butter in medium saucepan on the stove. Heat over medium heat until butter is melted. Remove from heat and stir in sugar and vanilla extract. 
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well with spoon after each addition. Add cocoa; stir until well blended. 
4. Add flour, baking powder and salt; stir until combined. Stir in candy bar chunks. Pour batter into prepared pan.
5. Drizzle caramel evenly over the brownies. Using a toothpick, swirl caramel into brownies. 
6. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan and a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool brownies completely in pan on a wire rack. Once cool, cut into squares and serve.