Once upon a time, I met this girl named Steph. We hit it off immediately – kindred spirits,
you know the drill. We’d stay up late
talking about life and love, or the lack of either. We were in grad school and were total nerds.
Soon after we met, fate intervened and we parted. We tried to keep in touch, but this was not
the digital age. There may have been
written letters involved. Time passed
and our lives went in different directions.
We lost touch.
Three years later, I was married and pregnant. In a flurry of manic and sudden grown-up activity,
I sent her a Christmas card. It found
her after the holidays, being forwarded at least one time to her current
address. She wrote to me, indicating
that she lived in the next town over, which was a slap in the face kick you in
the gut kind of coincidence, since our original meeting place was a couple of
states away.
From that moment we stayed in touch and got together a few
times a year, caught up on each others’ lives and experiences.
Steph and I have known each other for sixteen years.
I’ve always felt like we were meant to meet and then meet
again for several reasons. One day early
in our reunion we got together for a meal, and Steph brought brownies.
They rocked my world.
They were the best brownies I had ever eaten, and from that day on,
these brownies have gone down in our history as one of the main reasons why Steph
and I became friends. In my mind.
And with her permission, I am sharing the recipe with YOU!
Steph’s Incredible
Caramel Brownies!
First, collect your ingredients:
For the caramel layer:
50 light caramels. A 14 oz. package will work for this. Don’t bother to count them, unless you have a
small child who is learning how to count.
Then let him/her do it. Don’t
freak out if there are only 46 in the package. These are brownies, not chemical
peptides. I don’t even know what that
is. If you’re worried about not having
50 caramels for the recipe, just get two bags.
Jeez. You are more OCD than I am.
Chewy, gooey, delicious. |
For the brownie:
1 box German
Chocolate Cake mix. I have to say
that I have never made a German Chocolate Cake, and when I eat it there is
always coconut icing on the top, which because of the sole use of coconut should
make it my favorite, but I have to say I’m not a fan. The only time I actually like German
Chocolate Cake is in these brownies. And
that is about everything there is to say about that.
3/4 cup margarine or
butter, melted. Now, look. Steph’s recipe calls for margarine. I don’t use margarine. We are a butter-eating family. I have never made these brownies with
margarine because we simply never have it.
I’m not sure how they’ll turn out if you use melted Country Crock or
your standard-issue Fleischman’s, but the recipe calls for marg and I always
use butter, so whatever. Maybe you’re
one of those people who doesn’t like either and you’ll want to use coconut oil
or applesauce or mayonnaise. I am not
going to condone these behaviors but I certainly can’t stop you from using
whatever kind of fat you want. These are
your brownies. I’m just trying to make
your life better here but I can’t help you if you don’t help yourself.
1/3 cup evaporated
milk. This is the other half of the
can you used for the caramels. You didn’t
even have to measure it, did you? I told
you so.
1 cup chopped nuts
(optional). In my opinion, nuts are
always optional. I would make an inappropriate
joke about that but non-edible nuts and food don’t mesh well in my mind. I will
say that I am not a big nutty brownie girl and these brownies are awesome
without them. I won’t say that they’re any good with them because I’ve never had
them with nuts. But if you love nuts in
your brownies then get a cup of chopped nuts for this recipe. You probably won’t be disappointed, but if we
were at a picnic and I grabbed a brownie and discovered that they had nuts in
them, I would be.
1 cup (6 oz. package)
semi-sweet chocolate chips. I have
never seen a 6 oz. package of chocolate chips, but this recipe is pretty old so
they probably don’t even make them anymore.
And to that I say good for you, chocolate chip producers, because who
needs anything less than 12 oz. of chocolate chips anyway? In our house there are always chocolate
chips, which is the source of both joy and sorrow in my life.
Got your ingredients?
Good! Next, here’s what you do.
Instructions:
Grease and flour a
13x9 pan. I hate this step of any
recipe. I don’t use cooking spray
because it says to grease and flour. If
you think cooking spray will work, do it.
And then let me know how it turns out.
But as for me and my brownies, we will grease and flour.
Combine the dry cake
mix, margarine, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and nuts. Stir by hand until the dough holds. You’ll know what I mean about the “dough
holding” when you do it. It will look
like a soft ball. Here’s a funny story. The first time I made these brownies, my
in-laws were visiting. I was reading the
recipe and when it said “Stir by hand” I simply put my hands in the dough and
mixed it up, squishing it through my fingers.
My mother-in-law probably thought I was a maniac or gross or both, and
mostly likely hoped that my hands had been washed. Later I realized that “Stir by hand” probably
just meant use a spoon or spatula and not a mixer. I am kind of dumb sometimes. These days I just use a spatula.
This is only half of the dough. I get ahead of myself and forget to take pictures sometimes. But at least you see what it means when I say "the dough holds." |
Press half of the
dough into the prepared pan, and bake at 350 for 6 minutes. This part is hard; I’m not going to lie. It’s kind of a pain because the dough will
slide over your greased pan a little, and when you press it down it will press
through to the bottom and you will have to cover up the bare spots on the
bottom with more dough. Just do your
best and hope for success. You are a
star! And I know what you’re thinking: bake
for six minutes? That is not enough
time! I know, it doesn’t sound like
enough time. But it is. I would not lead you astray.
This is after the 6 minute baking time. It's a little bit jiggly. Just like most things around here. |
Combine caramels and
1/3 cup evaporated milk in a saucepan, and cook over low heat until caramels
are melted. Stir constantly. Probably the most charming part of this
recipe is that it never says to prepare the caramels before you do anything
else. Let me be clear: you will have to unwrap 50 individually
wrapped caramels for this recipe. It
will not be fun and it will take a long time.
Your fingers will be sticky. You
will want to eat them as you unwrap.
Stay strong. If you only have one
bag of them you cannot spare even one.
If you have helpers you are smart, but you also must instruct them not
to eat the caramels. Slapping little
fingers who bring unwrapped caramels to their owners’ mouths is not part of
this recipe, but it should be.
Unwrapping caramels is a thankless job. |
Especially when you're not allowed to eat any. |
High-maintenance caramels meet their demise. |
When they finally submit, they will look like this. |
And then this will happen. |
Take the crust out
after 6 minutes. Sprinkle the chocolate
chips over it. Then, spread the caramel
mixture over the chocolate chips. Place
small pieces of the remaining dough over the caramel, and carefully spread to
cover the caramel. Bake at 350 for 15-18
minutes. Things are about to get
real here. The crust will be jiggly and
puffy, the chocolate chips will melt and the caramel will threaten to destroy
everything. Stay in control. Placing the dough in pieces over this mess
and then trying to cover the caramel/melted chocolate chips will make you want
to rethink your life and why you are on this journey in the first place. Then you will get it all finished and you
will finally exhale, and it will look like you are about to bake a pan full of
ground meat and melted cheese instead of the best brownies you will ever have
in your life. When they are finished
baking they will still jiggle a little bit because one of the main ingredients
is melted caramel, for goodness’ sakes.
That stuff won’t harden in the heat, silly! I think the last batch I baked, I left them
in the oven for more like 20 minutes until the edges looked done. But whatever.
You do what you think is right.
Chocolate! |
Caramel! And dough pieces! |
And spread-out dough pieces! That look like hamburger! With cheese! |
When finished baking,
set out to cool. When brownies are still
slightly warm, refrigerate for 30 minutes to set the caramel. Cut into squares. Let’s get serious here. I have finished these brownies like this, but
honestly what I usually do is let the pan sit on my counter for an hour or two,
then I cover it and stick it in the fridge for a few hours, or even overnight. I like to cut them when they are cold all the
way through. I cut off the edges first
and then cut them into squares, especially when I’m taking them somewhere,
because these brownies are not for looks and they are slightly improved in that
department if you cut off the edges.
Plus they shrink quite a bit while cooling. Remember: these are brownies, not angelfood cake. And you know what? Store them in the fridge while you’re at it.
Just out of the oven, they're still jiggly. And puffy. Don't be fooled. They will cool, then deflate. It's sad, really. |
Into the fridge! |
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Waiting to be cut. Finally, brownies that look like brownies! |
And Voilà! You are
done. It was a labor of love, wasn’t
it? A love that is unsurpassed, because
you just made some kickin’ caramel brownies, courtesy of my friend Steph. Except when I asked her if I could use the
recipe for my blog, she admitted that it wasn’t her recipe at all, but that she
got it from another friend. Which,
sigh. I’m not the FBI, people. I can’t track everyone down. Just enjoy your brownies.
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Yum. |
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It's |
When you asked if you could post my brownie recipe, I had no idea you were going to include the "story of us". It brought a few tears to my eyes to read how you described our meeting and friendship . . . and I feel the same! It was pretty remarkable how we ended up close by each other again . . . but, alas, I had to ruin a good thing and move several states away again :( I do feel, though, that we will continue to reunite throughout our lives! Ah, the power of a good brownie :)
ReplyDeleteI love that you commented first on this! The story is too good not to tell, and when I bake these brownies I always think of you. And we will continue to meet again. Who knows where our children will go to college?
DeleteYou are so right. A good brownie can be VERY powerful. :)
So sweet! (Both the story of your friendship and the delish-looking brownies. These look awesome and totally worth peeling all the wrappers off the caramels.
ReplyDeleteThanks Kim! It never fails when I make them that the caramel wrappers seem to mock me. But you're right - the brownies are worth it.
DeleteMy husband is a brownie fiend! I'm going to have to try this. But I'll have to make my own caramel because I can't find caramel squares in Malaysia. I'm also going to have to figure out how to make it from scratch since I'm opposed to cake mix (not that I'm holding it against you). I will follow your awesome directions though!
ReplyDeleteMaking your own caramel might be quicker than unwrapping all those candies. And I can't help you with the German Chocolate Cake mix. I'm pretty sure it's not made with actual Germans.
DeleteThis looks surprisingly complicated! Maybe that's because I don't have caramel chips and would have to make that GF cake from scratch. But it does look good. Friendships have been formed over less.
ReplyDeleteMy dad had a roommate in Indiana University. They lost touch. We moved across the street from his family in Syracuse, NY. Yes. That.
That is an amazing story! I love small world stories. Did your dad and his old roomie continue to be friends?
DeleteI didn't realize that the recipe was so complicated until you mentioned it. It is a lot of steps. I think I see as easy because there are so few ingredients, and you don't have to measure much. But yes, there is a lot of hands-on action.
This sound divine....and you are utterly hilarious. You need your own cooking show.
ReplyDeleteThank you - I would love to have my own cooking show! I would make meatloaf and bake from recipes that I steal from old friends. There was a picture that I decided not to use that showcased my work surface, which in itself is comical. There were wads of paper towels, the empty cake mix box, the receipt and bag from the store, several knives, and a box of Ritz crackers. I don't know.
Deletethose look DELISH!
ReplyDeleteand I love that you got back in touch with your friend. i have done that with a few pals via facebook recently and it is SUCH a great feeling.
I know, right? Getting back on touch with old friends is so great. And they are delish, and I need to stay away from them.
Delete"I love you for your brownies" - ha! They totally do look amazing. Worth keeping a friendship for, for sure.
ReplyDeleteI've kept friendships going for much less, certainly. :)
DeleteBest recipe post ever - you need to vlog.
ReplyDeleteThat would be interesting, and fun! There sure would be a lot of editing!
DeleteI love those twists of fate that bring friends back together again ... and especially how conversation can pick up right away without that awkward period, despite how long it has been.
ReplyDeleteHaving a new awesome brownie recipe as a result is icing on the cake!
You are so true! I think a great friend is one who you can pick up with where you left off no matter how much time has gone by.
DeleteLooks like I have a new recipe to try for my dad's annual Christmas/birthday cookie delivery! I'm dying laughing at your running commentary throughout. That's exactly how I write up recipes (have one in draft).
ReplyDeleteI can't wait to read it! Let me know how the brownies turn out.
DeleteI don't think I've ever laughed so much reading a recipe. These look AMAZING.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Greta!! I love to make people laugh. :)
DeleteYou couldn't have posted this before I gave up the sugar?
ReplyDeleteI KNOW, right? Pin it and sock it away for the one time you really want to cheat a little.
Delete