To say I have been absent from baking and blogging would be a gross understatement. I took a bit of a break after Christmas when I reached that point when I couldn’t bear to look at another cake, cookie, or other baked good. After that, it’s just proven difficult to get back into the baking habit. Hopefully, I’m back into the swing of things. I know Quinn hopes so.
With this recipe, I am unashamedly easing back into baking. I picked these brownies primarily because I knew Quinn would love them. It didn’t hurt that they started with a cake mix, though, just to make them a bit simpler. They did prove simple, although I had forgotten how tedious it is to melt caramel. Patience is not my strongest suit. That aside, these are rather simple to make.
A couple of notes: I used a devil’s food cake mix and pecans. You’re probably all familiar with my ongoing love affair with pecans. I told Quinn I would put in whatever kind of nuts he wanted, and pecans were his choice. I half-expected him to pick his new love, hazelnuts, but I certainly didn’t complain about his choice.
These brownies are wonderfully rich, due in part to the devil’s food cake mix. A regular chocolate cake mix would certainly work if you wanted to tame these down a bit. I really liked the layers of these bars – brownie, chocolate, caramel, more brownie. They are wonderfully delicious and gooey when they are still a bit warm. Just don’t forget your napkin.
Ingredients
- 1 18.25 oz. package chocolate cake mix
- 1 cup chopped nuts
- 1 cup evaporated milk, divided
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 35 caramels, unwrapped (about 10 oz.)
- 2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat oven to 350°.
Combine cake mix and nuts. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter. Batter will be thick.
Spread half of mixture into bottom of a 9"x 13"x 2" baking pan. Bake 15 minutes. Place pan on wire rack to cool slightly.
Place caramels and remaining 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a small saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels have melted. Stir until smooth.
Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly over partially baked brownie. Drizzle with caramel mixture.
Drop remaining brownie batter by teaspoonfuls onto caramel.
Bake 25-30 minutes, or until center is set. Cool completely in pan on wire rack before cutting into bars.
Notes
Recipe adapted from Nestle.
March 24th, 2007 at 10:54 am
Glad to see you are back. Although I don’t think my pants are!
March 24th, 2007 at 8:46 pm
Welcome back – and what an entry to come back with! The ooziness of these brownies looks dangerously good
March 25th, 2007 at 5:30 pm
Gosh that picture is… well, let’s just say that tempting chocolately photographs like that are dangerous! Suddenly the chocolate bar I have sitting on the counter doesn’t look quite so satisfying.
We’re glad to have you back!
March 26th, 2007 at 11:59 am
yum! glad you’re back!
March 26th, 2007 at 6:14 pm
Im glad your back too! I kept visiting your site regularly during your hiatus, and I was excited to see a new post today!
March 26th, 2007 at 11:06 pm
The brownies look so gooey and rich … yum!
March 27th, 2007 at 3:49 am
Hi Jennifer
I love all the recipes on this site. They are so good!
March 27th, 2007 at 7:59 pm
Welcome back to baking and blogging! I’m so very glad.
March 28th, 2007 at 12:16 am
Just finished baking them, SOOOOO delicious and gooey. (I used werthers caramels by the way) Thank you so much for the great recipe.
March 28th, 2007 at 2:10 am
Hi! I have been looking at your blog and I think you have awesome recipes. And looks like you did a good job coming back to baking, these look so good and I bet they would be even better with milk or even vanilla icecream!
March 28th, 2007 at 6:24 am
Welcome back and thank you for the great recipes!
I can’t wait to make these brownies.
March 29th, 2007 at 6:15 pm
Glad you are back, I was almost giving up on you.
March 31st, 2007 at 6:23 pm
For totally selfish reasons, I’m glad you are back to baking! Just in time for Easter, too!
Love,
Your Sis
April 1st, 2007 at 12:21 pm
Glad you’re back. These look and sound delicious. I’ll be trying this recipe soon.
I’ve quickly melted caramels by placing them in a glass measuring cup and microwaving in 20-30 second increments, being sure to stir between each round of microwaving.
Thanks for sharing your beautiful recipes and photos!
T
May 11th, 2007 at 7:43 am
I made these last night for my husband to take to work today. OMG! So gooey and so good. I made him leave a few home. This one is getting transferred to the recipe box… it’s a keeper!
Thanks!
May 16th, 2007 at 6:48 am
These have been a staple in my family since I was a wee one. My mom would make a massive batch and then after cutting them up she would freeze them.
If you think they are good warm, cold they are like the best candy bar in the world. Somehow these always managed to disappear out of the freezer.
I’ve had people offer to marry me after eating these brownies.
June 20th, 2007 at 2:06 pm
I just made these this past Sunday and they were awesome and easy. So rich and gooey. Thanks for sharing and thanks for the devil’s food cake tip, I know that made all the difference!! Love your blog:)
December 1st, 2007 at 9:58 am
I made a few batches of these and I used different candy each time, mostly to use up the candy I got on clearance at Valentines day, easiest was a chocolate filled wafer, I think it was Ghiradelli, skipped the melting on the stove, just plopped them a top first layer fresh from the first bake.
I have also used caramel kisses and rolos.
Yummy
February 26th, 2008 at 3:44 pm
No caramel melting! I make a similar brownie, but I used the caramel sheet wraps that are used to make caramel apples. Some stores only have them around Halloween, but my local market has them year round in the produce section. Same great taste, much quicker and easier.
November 22nd, 2008 at 10:19 pm
I made these today! They were deeelicious! Do you think it would be better to use brownie mix instead of chocolate cake mix?
November 23rd, 2008 at 10:21 am
Meriem, I’m not sure about the brownie mix. Actually, I don’t think I’ve ever used a brownie mix at all. I’m sure it would be fine. If you try it, let me know how it works.
March 23rd, 2012 at 12:43 pm
So glad you’re back! These look awesome. I use a similar recipe adn they are my favorite by far!
March 26th, 2013 at 3:25 am
I forgot to add nuts (hoops!) but they were still great. I will definitely make these again.