Salted Caramel and Dark Cocoa Brownies

I didn’t really know what to call these…sticky caramel, chocolate calorie heaven? Yeah I’ll go with that. I think I’ve hit the selling point.

Gooey, fudgy and chocolately – without any chocolate. Not because I don’t like melted chocolate in my brownies but I simply didn’t have any (I wonder why?) so thought I’d have a go at cocoa powder as the main ingredient. Then I realised that’s just not enough. Mum bought some chocolate the other day, with a melting salted caramel center and that just had to work on top of brownies so these are highly experimental. And that is my science for the day folks.

These are a serious treat but I can imagine most people have all of thee ingredients to hand, and are relatively quick and easy to make so they’re great for occasions, birthdays, Valentines, Mother’s Day etc. Give them a go!

Ingredients

• For the Brownies
  • 115g unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 tablespoon cooking oil (olive oil or coconut oil are fine)
  • 225g caster sugar
  • 2 large eggs
  • 2 tsp vanilla extract
  • 65g plain flour
  • 65g unsweetened cocoa powder
  • Pinch of salt

• For the Salted Caramel
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 40 ml double cream
  • 15 g salted butter
  • 60 g caster sugar
  • 40 g golden syrup
  • Sprinkle of course sea salt

Method

First, the brownies…

First, preheat oven to 150°C fan/175°C/350°F then grease and line a 20cm square baking tin for later.

Mix together the melted butter, oil and caster sugar together in a large mixing bowl, whisking for about a minute until lighter in colour. Add the eggs and vanilla and stir gently for another minute until you have a super silky batter.

Add in the flour, cocoa powder and salt, stirring the dry ingredients gently into the wet, until just uniform. Pour your mix into prepared pan, smoothing out the top and bake for 20-25 minutes.Remove from the oven when the middle is just wiggly and allow to cool.

While the brownies are in the oven you’ve got time to prep the caramel!

Then the salted caramel…

Take out two heavy based pans. In the first pan, combine the vanilla, cream, half of the butter and a good pinch of sea salt over a low heat. Whisking, for about 2 to 3 minutes until it’s just bubbling, then take the pan off the heat and set aside.

In the second pan, add the caster sugar and maple syrup, again over a low heat. Jamie Oliver recommends that you now swirl the pan but I’ve found that stirring won’t harm it. Allow the sugar to dissolve then turn up the heat to medium until the sugar turns into a golden caramel.

Pour the caramel into the cream mixture and return to a low heat and stir in the remaining butter until melted. Set aside to prep the tray.

Scrunch up a large piece of greaseproof paper, make it wet the give it  good shake out, then line a 20cm x 30cm baking tray.

Pour in the caramel and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, until you have a thick, gooey caramel. Spoon/pour over the brownies, sprinkle over some course sea salt and chill to re-set and serve up for gooey deliciousness.