Recipe - Salted Caramel Brownies

Fall marks the return of not only the Pumpkin Spice Latte at Starbucks, but also the Salted Caramel Latte, my personal favourite.  This is the brownie version, very decadent, but worth making. I have made these brownies a few times for potlucks and dinner parties and they get a lot of compliments.

The original recipe calls for brownies from scratch but I have made it easier by using a boxed mix.

Helping himself to some pretzels

Salted Caramel Brownies

1 cup crushed pretzels (I used my food processor)
1/2 cup flour (I used whole wheat)
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup melted butter
1 boxed brownie mix, made according to its instructions (I used Duncan Hines Chocolate Decadence)
Caramel sauce
Fleur de sel

 

Mix together the pretzels, flour, brown sugar and baking soda.  Pour in the melted butter and stir until combined and crumbly.  Press into a greased 8x8 pan. 

Pour prepared brownies over pretzel crust. Spread around to cover all corners.

Bake according to brownie mix directions.  In my case it was 45 minutes at 325 degrees and they were done when a toothpick inserted 1 inch from the side comes out clean.  My first instinct was that it had to be cooked all the way through but it is okay if the middle is a little fudgy. 

Once cooled, drizzle the caramel sauce over top.  Sprinkle with fleur de sel.  This is a key ingredient, since regular salt will just dissolve into the caramel.  The fleur de sel sort of stays solid.  It can be expensive if you can even find it in your local grocery store, but a little goes a long way and can be used in a variety of dishes.

 

**********************

 

While I was making these, E was "cooking" supper.  This is Cuddly Pal, a lemon, and an elastic stretching band in the pan in the drawer.  They were soon accompanied by an airplane and a pair of (clean) underwear.