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Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Squares and Sea Salt

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Melt in the mouth, soft, fudgy, rich and gooey on the inside, these Salted Caramel Brown Butter Brownies are studded with squares of Cadburys Caramel chocolate and topped with an extra sprinkling of sea salt.

Using bars of chocolate caramel means these bars are exceedingly quick and easy to make with guaranteed nuggets of caramel joy in each mouthful! Heavenly served warm with ice cream for dessert but equally, utterly moreish served simply with a cup of tea or coffee.

How to make Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Squares and Sea Salt

This recipe is adapted from my Daffodil Brownies – Core Recipe. For further brownie ideas and inspiration, see here.

Collect all your ingredients together and line the baking tin:

In order to guarantee soft and fudgy brownies, it is important to use the correct size tin – in this case it is a 20cm/8inch square tin. If your tin is larger the depth of your cake batter will be less and the cake will cook more quickly. Equally if the tin is smaller, your cake batter will be deeper and cook more slowly.

  1. Sit the tin on greaseproof paper making sure the paper is large enough to line the tin, come up the sides and have a little overhang.
  2. Cut out the corners of the paper so it will fit easily into the tin
  3. Fold the paper from corner to corner so the size of the centre of the paper matches the base of the tin. Slot inside the tin.

Ingredients for Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Squares and Sea Salt:

  • unsalted butter, in cubes
  • dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
  • soft brown sugar
  • caster sugar
  • large eggs
  • fine salt
  • plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
  • cocoa, sieved
  • instant coffee powder, sieved
  • Cadburys Dairy Milk Caramel Bars
  • sea salt

How to make these incredible brownies:

  1. Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)
  2. Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.
  3. Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.
  4. Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee and sift directly over the cake batter.
  5. Fold until completely mixed in but be careful not to over-mix.
  6. Transfer half of the mixture to your lined baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
  7. Set 16 squares of Chocolate Caramel aside and evenly divide the rest over the surface of the brownie batter.
  8. Top with the remaining cake batter, again levelling the surface and making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.
  9. Top the cake batter with the 16 Chocolate Caramel squares – I place a square roughly in the centre of each brownie – and sprinkle a little sea salt over the top of each chocolate square.
  10. Bake in the centre of the pre-heated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland.) This gives me a slightly crispy top but a gorgeous gooey centre. The cake will be slightly risen and cracked around the edges but the centre will feel quite soft. Remember the cake will continue to cook after you have taken it out of the oven.  
  11. Leave to cool in the tin for around 30 minutes and then transfer, in the baking parchment, to a cooling rack.
  12. Slice into 16 small squares.

What is the best way to store brownies?

When you store brownies, it is important to cover them. They keep well for up to 3 days at room temperature or up to 5 days in the fridge. However, if you are storing them in the fridge, remember to take them out to warm up to room temperature before you serve them.

What is the best way to warm brownies?

I adore warm brownies for dessert, served with ice cream. If you have made the brownies in advance and want to warm them up, simply zap each brownie in the microwave for 10 – 20 seconds. The time it takes will depend on the temperature of the brownies to start with (ie have they been in the fridge or not?), the power of the microwave and how hot you actually want them. I like mine warm, but not too hot. I recommend heating them in 10 second increments until you are happy with the heat.

If you do not have a microwave, you could warm them in the oven. Cover with foil and place them in an oven preheated to fan oven 150°C/170°C/325°F/Gas 3 for 1 – 3 minutes. (Depending on how many you are heating and how hot you want them.) Check them after 1 minute and be careful not to overheat, as you may over cook them.

Can I freeze these brownies?

Yes you can! These brownies freeze well, covered, for up to 3 months.

Made this recipe?

If you make this recipe, do please tag me on instagram @daffodil_kitchen. You could also leave a comment in the box directly below the recipe.

Chocolate Brownies with Caramel Squares and Sea Salt

Melt in the mouth, soft, fudgy, rich and gooey on the inside, these Salted Caramel Brown Butter Brownies are studded with squares of Cadburys Caramel chocolate and topped with an extra sprinkling of sea salt.

Course afternoon tea, Dessert, Morning Coffee, treat
Keyword caramel, chocolate brownies, salted caramel
Prep Time 15 minutes
Cook Time 25 minutes
Servings 16
Author Susan

Ingredients

  • 200g unsalted butter, in cubes
  • 200g dark chocolate, 70% cocoa solids, broken into pieces
  • 150g soft brown sugar
  • 50g caster sugar
  • 3 eggs
  • ¼ teaspoon fine salt
  • 100g plain/all-purpose flour, sieved
  • 25g cocoa, sieved
  • ½ teaspoon instant coffee powder, sieved
  • 360g/3 bars Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Bars
  • sea salt for sprinkling on the top

Instructions

  1. Collect together your equipment (see Recipe Notes below) and ingredients.

  2. Preheat oven to fan oven 170°C /190°C/375°F/Gas 5

  3. Chop the butter into squares and place in a microwave safe bowl with the chopped chocolate. Melt in a microwave or a bain marie or and mix until smooth. (See Recipe Notes for details.)

  4. Meanwhile put the sugars, eggs and salt in a mixing bowl and whisk with an electric whisk until thick and creamy. This will take around 3 minutes.

  5. Pour the chocolate and butter into the eggs and sugar, whilst whisking, and mix thoroughly with the electric whisk until smooth and glossy.

  6. Put a sieve over the bowl and add the flour, cocoa and coffee and sift directly over the cake batter.

  7. Fold until completely mixed in but be careful not to over-mix.

  8. Transfer half of the mixture to your lined baking tin and level the surface, making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.

  9. Set 16 squares of Chocolate Caramel aside and evenly divide the rest over the surface of the brownie batter.

  10. Top with the remaining cake batter, again levelling the surface and making sure the cake batter goes all the way into the corners.

  11. Top the cake batter with the 16 Chocolate Caramel squares – I place a square roughly in the centre of each brownie – and sprinkle a little sea salt over the top of each chocolate square.

  12. Bake in the centre of the pre-heated oven for 20 – 25 minutes, depending on how squidgy you like the centre to be. (I cook mine for 23 minutes in London and 24 minutes in Switzerland.) This gives me a slightly crispy top but a gorgeous gooey centre. The cake will be slightly risen and cracked around the edges but the centre will feel quite soft. Remember the cake will continue to cook after you have taken it out of the oven.  

  13. Leave to cool in the tin for around 30 minutes and then transfer, in the baking parchment, to a cooling rack.

  14. Slice into 16 small squares.

Recipe Notes

Equipment

  • Large microwave safe jug or heatproof bowl
  • Electric whisk and mixing bowl
  • Kitchen scales and measuring spoons
  • Sieve
  • Chopping board and knife
  • 20cm/8inch square baking tin lined with baking parchment

Be very careful melting the chocolate. Chocolate can be very difficult to work with. You can overheat it very easily and the mixture will go grainy. When this happens, there is no way to resolve it I’m afraid!

Microwave: I give the chocolate and butter a minute in the microwave, take it out and stir it well, then let it sit for a few minutes to see if it continues melting sufficiently to melt all the chocolate. If not, I then continue with the microwave but in 10 – 15 second bursts.

Bain Marie: if you do not have a microwave, put the chocolate and butter in a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of gently simmering water. Do not let the base of the bowl touch the water. Heat until the chocolate and butter are very nearly melted then take it off the heat and take the bowl off the saucepan. Be very careful not to burn yourself as the bowl will be hot and steam will escape from the saucepan. Allow the mixture to sit for a few minutes for the residual heat to melt the remainder of the mixture. Again, be careful not to over-heat.

 

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