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.
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