These chocolate-caramel brownies come from Ree Drummond’s new book The Pioneer Woman Cooks: Food From My Frontier. I’ve tried a couple of different, yet similar recipes, and so far this is my favorite. Check out the book for set-by-step photographic instructions. Unfortunately, no origin story is provided for the name!
Ingredients
- 1/3 cup plus 1/2 cup evaporated milk
- One 18.5 oz box German chocolate cake mix
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans
- 60 caramels
- 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9 x 9 inch baking pan.
- Begin by pouring 1/3 cup evaporated milk into a bowl with the cake mix.
- Add the melted butter.
- Add the chopped pecans. (I skipped this step, though I do have visions of later stirring chopped peanuts into the caramel for a Snickers-like experience.)
- Mix the ingredients together.
- Divide the dough in half down the middle.
- Press one half of the dough into the bottom of the pan to make the first brownie layer.
- Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until set, then remove it from the oven and set aside.
- While the brownie layer is baking, in a double boiler, combine the caramels and 1/2 cup evaporated milk.
- Stir occasionally until the caramels are totally melted and the mixture is smooth.
- Pour the caramel mixture over the first baked layer, spreading it so that it’s evenly distributed.
- Sprinkle the chocolate chips all over the top.
- On a clean surface or sheet of wax paper, press the remaining brownie dough into a square shape slightly smaller than the baking pan. (I thought this was the hardest step.)
- Carefully set it on top of the chocolate chips. (OK, this was actually the hardest step!)
- Bake for 20-25 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and let the brownies cool to room temperature. Cover the pan and refrigerate the brownies for several hours to allow them to set.
- When you’re ready to serve them, sprinkle them generously with the powdered sugar and cut them into large rectangles before removing them from the pan.
Memorial Day is the first holiday of the year where you can comfortably party outside. It’s the party that signals the start of summer. Every family seems to have one person who claims the title of Grill master. There is an art to grilling and if you’d like to do more on your grill then just cook hamburgers, then check out some of these titles:
I love to cook with herbs and spices. Just a little pinch of this or that could make the world of difference in how good my meals taste. It took me a while to figure out what herbs paired well with what foods but hopefully the chart below will help you.