I woke up this morning both inspired and craving something sweet. So, I took to my kitchen where wonderful things began to happen. I have a large jar of caramel sauce that I've been itching to put to use and what goes well with caramel? I say nearly everything, but settled on the classic combination of caramel, sea salt, chocolate and coffee. And voila! The salted caramel mocha brownies were born. Inspired by Starbucks' Salted Caramel Mocha, these brownies are dense and chocolatey and the perfect combination of salty and sweet.
My go-to, basic brownie recipe can be found online here. You end up with your perfect, run-of-the-mill brownie that is even better than the boxed kind. But sometimes your perfect, run-of-the-mill brownie is just not enough. So I took this recipe and kicked it up a notch.
First off, you're going to need some kind of caramel sauce. If you're an over achiever you can make it from scratch (I like this recipe) or if you're a bit lazy you can buy it already made. Whatever works for you.
My recipe includes two shots of espresso which gives the brownies a nice, strong coffee taste that I'm sure would be approved of by Lorelai Gilmore. If you don't have an espresso machine, use a few tablespoons of brewed coffee or leave the coffee out all together. Either way these are turning out super tasty. Promise.
Ingredients -
1 cup of butter, melted
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
1 1/2 cups of white sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
2/3 of a cup of cocoa powder
1 cup of all-purpose flour
1/2 of a teaspoon of salt
1/2 of a teaspoon of baking powder
2 shots of espresso, optional
2 shots of espresso, optional
Method -
Preheat your convection oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease a 9x9 pan and set aside. Melt your butter and pour into a large mixing bowl. Continue to add the rest of your ingredients in the order that they are listed. Mix well and pour into your prepared pan.
Spoon large spoonfuls of caramel on top of the brownie batter and swirl gently with a skewer or a knife. Bake for 40-50 minutes and when a toothpick inserted comes out clean, your brownies are ready. Drizzle with even more caramel (!!!), sprinkle with some sea salt and maybe even a scoop of ice cream (especially if the brownies are still warm)
Enjoy!
