Day 57 - Caramel Brownies

Friday, September 28, 2012

Tonight I had a special friend come over to bake and hang out with me. Mary is in 6th grade and I used to babysit her and her sisters when I was in college. We have such a special relationship, and even though her and her sisters are too old to need my babysitting now, I love to keep in touch with them as much as possible.

Tonight Mary and I are catching up (first and foremost), eating pizza, and baking! We decided to make caramel brownies. I found the recipe from the website Annie's Eats. The caramel brownies look amazing and are pretty easy to make.

First, we melted semi sweet chocolate with butter in the microwave. Next, to the chocolate mixture we added sugar, eggs, vanilla extract, flour, and salt which created the brownie batter. In a pan lined with foil, we poured in half of the brownie batter and baked it for about 20 minutes.

Melted Chocolate

Finished Brownie Batter

While the first half of the brownies baked, we made the caramel filling by unwrapping a package of soft caramels and melting it with heavy cream until the mixture was thick and smooth. When the bottom layer of brownies came out of the oven, we poured in the caramel to create the center layer, which was then topped with the remaining brownie batter. The pan went back into the oven until the brownies were cooked through, which took another 20 minutes or so. When they came out they looked and smelled delicious!

Mary making the caramel!

Finished Caramel

Brownies ready for the oven!

Finished Brownies

We cut up the brownies after they cooled (cooling is especially important for these since the center is so gooey!) and they were so yummy! The only change I would make is baking these in a smaller pan. Since I only had a 10x13 pan on hand, instead of a 9x12 or smaller, the brownies came out fairly thin. They were still delicious and very gooey in the center, but I think they would have been better slightly thicker.

I not only enjoyed having Mary as a baking partner this weekend, but I loved spending time with her and catching up!