Caramel brownies

Ever since I read this recipe in the 2003 Quick Cooking book I have wanted to try it. James loves caramel turtles so I thought I could make a turtle brownie out of this recipe. After we let them cool and sampled them, his first comment was, "You are not giving any of these away." You see, usually I take half of whatever I bake to work for a friend. I was only permitted to remove 4 of these scrumptious brownies from the pan to take to work. These are not the most frugal of brownies because of the caramels, but I had some leftover from a long time ago, and my mom bought the condensed milk for me this weekend, so I gave it a shot.

I did change the original recipe by using pecans instead of walnuts and I halved the recipe. I'll include the recipe for the whole batch. I hope you enjoy them as much as James does. A word of caution though, to get the full effect of the flavors, the brownies have to be completely cooled. If you try to eat them hot, like I did, they kind of taste like burnt caramel.


Caramel Brownies

2 c sugar
¾ c baking cocoa
1 c vegetable oil
4 eggs
¼ c milk
1- ½ c flour
1 t salt
1 t baking powder
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c chopped pecans, divided
1 pkg (14 oz) caramels
1 can (14 oz) sweetened condensed milk

1. In a mixing bowl, combine the sugar, cocoa, oil, eggs and milk.
2. Combine the flour, salt and baking powder; add to the egg mixture and mix until combined.
3. Fold in the chocolate chips and ½ c pecans. Spoon two thirds of the batter into a greased 13x9x2 inch baking pan and bake at 350° for 12 minutes.
4. While brownies are baking, in a saucepan, heat the caramels and condensed milk over low heat until caramels are melted. Pour over baked brownie layers. Sprinkle with remaining pecans and drop remaining batter by tablespoonfuls over caramel layer. Swirl the brownie batter with a knife.
5. Bake 30-40 minutes longer or until a toothpick comes out with moist crumbs if inserted in the center of the brownies. Cool before eating!