Salted Caramel Brownies

Ever since the cookies, I've thought of how to combine chocolate pastry with salted caramel.  The problem with the cookies was caramel expulsion, with only about half of the cookies coming out with the caramel neatly enrobed in the chocolate cookie.

So now comes salted caramel brownies!  These are based on the brownies from the Eagle Brand website  http://eaglebrand.com/recipes/details/?RecipeId=4166&category=-1 and the caramel recipe here http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/fleur-de-sel-caramels-recipe/index.html

As always, I modified the recipes to my purpose and ingredients (^_^)

Brownies:

1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
3/4 cup 60% cocoa chocolate chips
1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 eggs
1/3 cup baking mix (I swear it doesn't matter what kind.... biscuit, buttermilk pancake, muffin, whatever)
1 or 2 tb. strong coffee (I mixed about a teaspoon instant coffee with a tablespoon or two of very hot water)

Caramel:

1/2 cup vanilla sugar
1/4 cup molasses
1 1/2 cup heavy cream
5 tb butter
1 tsp salt

To make the caramel, combine the sugar, molasses, and half cup water in a pan, and bring to a boil for several minutes, meanwhile warming the cream, butter, and salt.  After boiling the sugar mixture for about 5-10 minutes, add the cream, and boil over medium heat for.... awhile (*^_^) until it almost reaches firm-ball stage (drop some caramel into ice cold water to determine this).  It took at least 20 minutes of boiling for me, and the mixture reduced a bit.

To make the brownies, combine the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and cocoa powder in a pan and melt (or do it in the microwave).  In another bowl, combine the biscuit mix and eggs.  Add the chocolate mixture and coffee, combine well, and bake in a 350 degree oven.

About halfway through baking, swirl as much of the caramel as you desire over the top of the brownies, and continue baking until done. 

I sprinkled the top with some coarse turbinado sugar for a bit of a sweet crunch, since neither the brownies nor caramel are super-sweet.  I think they could have taken or left the sugar, but what the hey, I felt indulgent and decadent ((^_-))

Sweet, salty chocolate, tastier than it sounds!