Salted Caramel Brownies

Recently the salted caramel cream has become a permanent resident in my pantry cabinet. I make it every time it runs out and store next to the chocolate hazelnut spread. At first I cooked the glucose-free version, which is wonderful but the result is a slightly less liquid caramel that crystallizes over time.

Recently I had a shooting day with Pastry Chef Matthieu Carlin, during which we filmed the “Cookie Glacé” meaning an ice cream cookie. The dessert consists of a pecan chocolate cookie with salted caramel, a vanilla ice cream disc and all this is coated in chocolate with crunchy roasted pecans. After this amazing meeting I decided to switch to the glucose version.

Now, the salted caramel in my pantry cabinet is much softer and can be sprinkled in a much more convenient way. Of course it’s very important to understand what use the caramel cream is for to decide which recipe to choose.

So as you understand I’m in the caramel era, and this time Salted Caramel Brownies. A layer of brownies, a layer of soft salted caramel cream and on top of it another layer of brownies, all baked together and to complete the celebration a little more sprinkled caramel over all the layers.

This is a must-have recipe for chocolate and caramel lovers, bake it once and you won’t stop 🙂

Salted Caramel Brownies
24-cm square pan

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Ingredients 

Salted Caramel Cream (it’s recommended to prepare the day before):
160g sugar
20g glucose syrup (possible, for a softer caramel)
240g heavy whipping cream
40g butter in room temperature, cubed
5g salt, I use Fleur-de-Sel

Brownies:
250g butter
250g dark chocolate (at least 70%cocoa)
30g salted caramel (from the cream you prepared)
240g eggs (around 4 large eggs)
240g light brown sugar (or half light brown, half brown)
100g all-purpose flour
50g cocoa powder

Decoration:
70g milk chocolate, chopped
30g salted caramel (from the cream you prepared)

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Preparation 
1. Salted Caramel: In a medium heavy-duty saucepan heat sugar and glucose (if you chose to add it), until it melts into a brown amber-colored liquid.
2. Meanwhile, in a small saucepan, heat the cream until simmering.
3. After the sugar turned into caramel, pour the boiling cream into the caramel pot through a sieve. Attention! The caramel bubbles and rises to the top. It is best to remove the pot from the heat source for a few seconds, so that the caramel does not slide. Return to the heat source for a few seconds while stirring until a smooth cream is obtained.
4. Remove from heat, add butter and salt and stir until smooth. For a very smooth caramel cream it’s recommended to grind with a blender rod. Cool to room temperature.
5. Preheat the oven to 180C degrees and line a 24-cm square pan with parchment paper. 
6. Melt butter and dark chocolate in a double boiler or the microwave. Cool to room temperature. Add 30g salted caramel cream and stir.
7. In a big bowl beat eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
8. Add melted chocolate to egg mixture and beat until smooth.
9. Add flour and cocoa powder, and mix until well combined.
10. Pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan.
11. Pour salted caramel cream over the brownie layer (except 30g of caramel that you can keep for decoration) and flatten gently. If the caramel has hardened, soften it slightly by heating before pouring over the brownie layer.
12. Pour the rest of the brownie mixture over the caramel layer and flatten gently. Sprinkle milk chocolate over the brownie mixture.
13. Bake for about 35-40 minutes, until baked but not too dry.
14. Cool to room temperature; drizzle the remaining 30g caramel over the top, then cut to big or small cubes.

Bon-Appétit
Sharon