Caramel Brownies

I had a hankering for caramel brownies this weekend and these came together in a flash. Does anyone remember when Starbucks had the caramel brownie? Oooh, that was the best brownie. This brownie is not as good as that one, but it's pretty close.

Here's what you need:



Caramel Brownies
adapted from All Recipes

1/2 cup (or 1 stick) melted margarine (or butter)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

1/2 bag of caramel bits

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and spray 9x9 pan. Mix your butter, sugar, vanilla and eggs. Stir in dry ingredients until combined. Melt the caramel in the microwave. Pour in half of your batter into your brownie pan then the melted caramel. Top with the other half of the brownie batter. Bake for 20-25 minutes.

Serve warm, preferably with ice cream and extra caramel drizzle.

Best Brownies?

My mom tears recipes out of magazines for me constantly. I love recipes, I just never think of them when making stuff. But I sort of followed a recipe for "Best Brownies" that she tore out of Southern Living.
I changed some things, because it had an obscene amount of butter and sugar in the recipe.
The brownies are really good. Dense and chocolate-y, somewhere between fudgy and cakey. Not sure if I would call them the "best" brownies, as the magazine states, but they are pretty darn good.

Here's your ingredients:



Oh, and this (if you want):



I like to add espresso powder to my chocolate recipes to enhance the rich flavors.

Darn Good Brownies
4 oz unsweetened chocolate baking squares
1/2 cup butter (one stick--I used Smart Butter, because I like my butter smart)
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup Eggbeaters (or 3 large eggs)
1 cup all-purpose flour
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp espresso powder (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 8x8 pan with foil and spray with non-stick spray. Or use your "perfect brownie" pan like I did. I love it because I don't have to cut the brownies and I just mist it with a little cooking spray.



2. Microwave butter and chocolate on high power for 30 seconds, stir and repeat for two more 30 second intervals (or until it's all metled and smooth). The chocolate/butter mixture will look delicious, but do not--I repeat--do NOT lick the spoon. It's unsweetened chocolate and it will taste disgusting. Not that I did that or anything...

3. Measure and dump your sugars in a bowl and add the melted chocolate.

4. Whisk bowl contents together, add egg and vanilla and mix until combined.

5. Add your flour, salt and espresso powder and stir until incorporated.

6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 35 minutes. You are now free to lick your spatula to your heart's content.



Here's some Caturday cuteness :)


Have a great weekend!