Salted Caramel Brownies

Forget the holiday pies, Christmas sugar cookies, and Valentine's Day chocolate-covered strawberries you consumed in the past few months. Let's change the conversation to rich, dark, chocolate brownies with salted golden caramel. It's okay--really--you deserve this one!

Amélie's French Bakery Salted Caramel Brownies my way.

The dark skies, freezing nights, and unusually dreary weather of January and February will soon be a memory in Austin. We are spoiled weather-wise and do not suffer days without sunshine very well. Buds have appeared on my treasured peach tree last week, which is usually a trustworthy sign that spring will soon be on its way. Not so for my dear East Coast and Colorado friends though. Snow, snow, and more snow--along with below freezing temps and hurricane-like winds, have them all at the end of their ropes. So to perk us all up a bit, I decided we should band together and bake a true and happy comfort food--chocolate brownies. Let's add a touch of sweet homemade caramel and a dot with a pinch of crunchy sea salt and voila! Instant happiness. Feel free to add a cold glass of milk--go for whole milk if you dare--or pour a big girl glass of your favorite California Cabernet. Now forget about the blowing wind, freezing rain, and snow. Life is good now, isn't it?

Now for the story about this recipe. Follow along now.

If you read my blog, you already know that I always bake cakes for my friends' birthdays--a fun tradition I highly recommend if you were born a baker at heart. My first birthday cake creation was to celebrate my Papa Tuck's 80th birthday. A small black and white framed photo of me sandwiched between my grandparents that day so many years ago, is now an anchor in my kitchen gallery of special moments with friends and family. Each time this glimmer of childhood catches my eye, as I sip morning coffee, or share a glass of wine with a friend, I get to relive a moment as that young girl dressed in summer shorts enjoying a sweet kiss from her Papa and a smile of approval from her stern Grandma. For one brief moment, I was the center of their world--a rare event as one of a baker's dozen of grandchildren.

My once shy friends are now happy to remind me of their impending birthdays and are never shy about picking their favorite cakes. Most just ask for the cake their mothers made them as children. A few just want anything chocolate or with cream cheese icing. I never tire of trying to surprise them with a taller, tastier, or uniquely decorated cake. My recent favorite for birthday milestones--tiny Barbie tennis player cakes surrounding a large Barbie cake for a friend's 40th and an R-rated Miley Cyrus Wrecking Tennis Ball cake.

G-rated Wrecking Ball Cake for a 50th birthday--minus the Barbie doll Miley

Barbie tennis players for a 40th birthday

Birthday Cake Calendar 2014

After years of baking for family and friends, their monthly requests are now memorized:

January is German Chocolate, February is Italian Cream and Carrot, March is Lemon Cake, April is Boston Cream Pie, May is Williamsburg Orange and Six-Layer Carrot cake, June is Island Cake, July is anything dark chocolate, August is German Chocolate and Texas Chocolate, September is Decadent Chocolate Raspberry with Grand Marnier, October is Gigi's Giant Coconut, and November is the Willard Family German Chocolate cake. The calendar gets a rest in December while we all bake holiday cookies.

But wait! This year Ms. November birthday girl broke all established rules and requested salted caramel brownies instead of cake? Dozens of brownie research later, I picked the one from Amélie's French Bakery in Charlotte, North Carolina. Pioneer Woman Ree Drummond had sampled them during a visit and highly recommended the dark, salty sweets. My search ended there. I admire Ree's approach to family cooking--straightforward and almost always right on target.

Amélie's is located in Charlotte, North Carolina, and one recently opened in Old Town Rock Hill, South Carolina. I'll check that one out in person on my next Charleston visit. This popular French bakery reminded me of the recently closed Bountiful Bakery near my home in Austin. Charming and cozy, I would definitely want to hang out with friends for a cup of good coffee and one of these salted caramel brownies.

I made a few adjustments to the Amélie recipe based on Ree's experience making the caramel and her reader reviews. Oops--last minute baking always has its challenges--I only had 2 ounces of unsweetened chocolate in my baking drawer. Not to worry-- I filled in with Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips and increased the amount to 6 ounces. You can never have too much dark chocolate--right? I then decreased the amount of sugar in the brownie portion per several of Ree's readers' suggestions. I only used one package of gelatin instead of two for the caramel--there were several complaints about the caramel being too sweet and not setting properly from both Ree and her followers. My final tweak was to dip each small brownie square into the cooled caramel--instead of pouring over the entire brownie--then adding a few sprinkles of shiny sea salt crystals on top of each one for that extra wow flavor. I served them individually in mini-muffin paper cups.

We celebrated my friend's birthday at a matinee movie--8 women, a few bottles of wine, buckets of popcorn, goody bags of cheese, fruit, and crackers, and these amazing salted caramel brownies. We were almost evicted from the empty mid-day theater when the bottles of wine were discovered; but the nice young usher decided he would accept a few brownies in return for his silence. He gave them a thumbs up review and never returned.

If you have never tried the combination of dark chocolate, caramel, and sea salt together--what are you waiting for? Stay warm y'all.

Salted Caramel Brownies
recipe adapted from Amélie's French Bakery
with advice from The Pioneer Woman and her followers
Amélie's French Bakery Recipe

My version--printed recipe

Brownie:

1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup Droste cocoa powder (what I used but any good quality cocoawill do)
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate squares
6 oz. Ghiradelli dark chocolate chips
3/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
1 cup flour
3 large eggs
1 3/4 cup caramel glaze (recipe follows)

Heat oven to 325° F. Line a 9" x 9" pan with aluminum foil and spray with Pam or brush with butter. Amélie's bakery uses a 9" x 13". I wanted my brownies taller.

Melt chocolate squares and chips with butter in top of a double boiler.* Add sugar and stir. Remove from heat. Whisk in eggs, then add a small amount of warm melted chocolate and butter into the eggs, mixing gently. Drizzle the remaining eggs into the chocolate while continuing to mix. Add flour and stir just until blended. Don't over mix.

Pour into prepared pan and spread evenly. Bake 25-30 minutes. Be careful not to over bake.

Cool brownies in pan completely, then refrigerate or freeze for a few minutes to make slicing with a serrated knife easier. You can remove the aluminum foil if you want before you chill.

Slice into small 2"x2" squares and top with cooled caramel and then the sea salt. Refrigerate until serving.  

Caramel:

1 package Knox unflavored gelatin
2 tablespoons water
1/2 cup heavy cream
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, cubed
2 teaspoons kosher salt
Sea salt crystals for garnish

In small saucepan warm heavy cream. Do not boil. In a separate sauce pan combine sugar and water. Do not stir. Bring mixture to a boil over medium-high heat. Again--do not stir. Cook until mixture turns amber color - not too dark. This can take anywhere from 5-8 minutes. Watch carefully and wait for it--not too dark, but that beautiful caramel color. Remove from heat.

Add warm cream, butter, and salt. Stir gently until smooth. Carefully pour gelatin into sugar mixture and stir. Let caramel sit a few minutes to cool down. Then place in refrigerator for about 10 minutes to make coating brownies easier.

To finish according to Amélie's recipe, pour the cooled caramel over brownies and allow to set. Instead, I cut the chilled brownies into 2" squares, then dipped each one into the cooled caramel to coat the top. You can also drizzle the caramel with a fork or spoon over the brownies set on a wire rack.

After the caramel sets, but while it is still sticky, sprinkle a few grains of coarse sea salt crystals onto each one. Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator until serving. Bet you can't just eat one.

Enjoy!
p.s. - the X-rated version of the Miley Cirus cake was hysterical, but probably not in the best of taste to post. lol