Salted Caramel Choc Chip Brownies and Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

Salted Caramel Choc Chip Brownies and Vanilla Bean Caramel Sauce

One of my foodie obsessions in recent years has been Salted Caramel.  I noticed it creeping onto menus and cookery shows several years ago, then a few chocolate, salt and caramel combinations started to appear on the supermarket shelves and my life was complete.

I’ve since added a wonderful Caramel Sauce to my cooking repertoire - I often use it as a topping for Vanilla ice-cream.  However a sauce needs a plate mate, so I have been experimenting with tray bakes and brownies.  This is the nicest recipe that I found and it incorporates the caramel sauce as an ingredient.

The original recipe used a sauce made from melted shop bought soft toffees but I prefer to make my own.  If you choose to cheat, use 300g of soft toffees with three teaspoons of cream, microwaved for 2 minutes (stir every 20 seconds).

Ingredients Caramel Sauce

225 g granulated sugar

295 ml double cream

1/4 tsp sea salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 vanilla pod

Method

Heat the sugar over a low heat.  When the sugar begins to bubble and melt around the edges, use a heatproof spatula to push the sugar towards the centre of the pan.  Continue to stir gently until all the sugar has melted. Once the caramel reaches a deep amber colour, quickly remove the pan from the heat.  Take care not to overcook; a burnt sauce is bitter, unpleasant and pretty much unusable.

Pour in half of the cream, whilst whisking hard (the sauce will bubble actively).  Stir until incorporated, and then whisk in the remaining cream. Stir in the vanilla extract, seeds from the pod and the salt. 

If any hard sugar has formed, stir the caramel over a very low heat until the hardened pieces have melted and you have a smooth sauce.

Decant any leftover sauce into jars and store in the ‘fridge.

Ingredients Brownies

315 g plain flour


1/2 tsp table salt


1/2 tsp baking powder

175 g butter, melted, cooled

175 g light brown sugar


100 g granulated sugar


1 large egg


1 large egg yolk


2 teaspoons vanilla extract


200 g chocolate chips
(this can be expensive so I chop bars of chocolate into chunks by hand)

Caramel sauce (see recipe)

Sea salt, for sprinkling

Method

Prepare by preheating oven to 170 C and lining a deep sided 11” tray with baking parchment.  Mix flour, table salt and baking powder.  In a separate bowl mix butter and sugars, then add eggs and vanilla and mix a little more.  Add flour and combine, then stir in chocolate chips.

Put half the cookie dough in the pan, then top with a layer of caramel sauce, sprinkled with sea salt.  Add the additional dough until covered, and a little more sea salt on top.

Bake for half an hour and allow to cool a little.

Serve the brownies warm with good quality Vanilla ice-cream, drizzled with  Caramel Sauce.