Caramel Biscuit Brownies

I do not even want to mention how many times I have made these brownies since my Mum sent me the recipe. I know I always talk about amazing brownies, but these truly are.

SIDE NOTE: Regular scheduled posting? What is that? I may return to it sometime soon.

When served warm, they are soft, gooey and the sweet caramel is piping hot and contrasts with the rich brownie. When served cold, the caramel biscuits are more obvious (the biscuit has not melted into the brownie base as when they are hot). You can taste the rich brownie, the caramel is chewy and the biscuit hard and crunchy. The texture of the biscuit is a little disconcerting but not terrible. I personally prefer to serve them warm, as I love the melted caramel and lack of biscuit crunch.

Remember, if you are serving the brownies warm, if you reheat them in the microwave, wait a moment before serving because the caramel will burn your tongue. I'd advise reheating in the oven, because, as usual, reheating in the oven makes the food taste better.

This is not my recipe. I have copied it below exactly as it appeared in the June 2013 issue of Australian Good Taste.

Makes 12 brownies (very large)

What you need:
200g dark (bittersweet) chocolate
200 g butter
3 eggs
2 egg yolks
1 1/4 cups caster sugar
3/4 cup plain flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
200 g (1 packet) Arnott's Caramel Crowns (or caramel centered chocolate covered biscuits)

What to do:
Preheat the oven to 160 degrees Celsius. Grease and line with baking paper a regular sized brownie tray.

In a large bowl melt the chocolate and butter together.

In a smaller bowl, whisk the eggs and egg yolk together until well combined. Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and stir with a wooden spoon until well combined.

Stir in the sugar. Sift in the flour and cocoa powder and stir in with the wooden spoon.

Pour half the brownie mixture into the pan. Spread the biscuits (should be 12) evenly on the brownie base. Press them down into the mixture. Pour the remaining brownie batter over the top and spread evenly with a spatula so the surface is smooth.

Bake for 40 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly and serve warm.

Molten Chocolate Caramel Lava Cake

There are some changes coming to the blog this weekend. I'm pretty excited about it and depending on if you're reading this online or not, and what time you're reading this, you may see the changes already or not.

I was going to post earlier this week to tell you about my Easter but I was just too lazy. It's my Easter holidays and I have definitely been enjoying my bed and catching up on all my favourite tv shows.

It's great that Doctor Who is back (still undecided about the new companion).

I don't even understand what happenned in the Pretty Little Liars finale (um, what is in the trunk of the car?).

I think that if you don't love Nick on Grimm you're a heartless person (he loves Juliette so much I hate watching him go through this).

Rick on Walking Dead is also fabulous (and besides, if your heart didn't melt when he showed Keira Knightly those signs in Love Actually, you're dead inside).

Um, why do all the good looking characters die in Once Upon A Time? (and now I feel weird for wanting Emma and August to get together).

And, what the hell is going on with Nick and Jess in New Girl (and yes, Nick is the best crush ever).

I obviously have too much time on my hands. When I get a real job and finish university (or maybe if I wasn't doing an arts degree) I am going to have to give up my binge-tv-watching days. I am not looking forward to this.

But enough about tv shows. I made these cakes to show you what you can do with your leftover Easter eggs (unless you're like me, in which case, there are no leftover Easter eggs and you bought extras in the post-Easter sale). In fact, you don't even have to do this with Easter eggs. You can make this recipe without the eggs altogether, or you could place a square of dark chocolate in the middle of your cakes for a regular chocolate centre. But I recommend, if you can, using some kind of caramel Easter egg or caramel chocolate.

The recipe is very simple. These are deceptively easy to make, do not require much time or energy and will leave every chocolate craving satisfied. Guaranteed.

This recipe was barely adapted from Sugar for the Brain's Molten Lava Cake recipe. Check out her lovely blog for more delicious ideas.Okay, it's pretty much her recipe, I just added the Easter eggs. All credit goes to Marjorie Morin.

What you need:

120 grams butter

200 g chocolate

3 eggs

½ cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

½ cup flour

4/8 caramel chocolate Easter eggs (or 4/8 pieces of caramel chocolate). You will use four or eight pieces depending on the size of ramekin/how much batter is in each ramekin – if you can fit two Easter eggs in the centre of the batter, do so. If not, stick with one.

What to do:

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius.

Grease four ramekins with oil or butter. Make sure they are very generously greased. Set aside while you make the cakes.

Melt the butter and chocolate together in a microwave. Use a heat-proof bowl.

In a separate, large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar together until the mixture is pale and clumps together slightly. The longer you beat, the less liquid centre.

Beat the vanilla into the mix.

Using a spatula or wooden spoon, stir in the chocolate mix and flour. Make sure you stir both in well; there should be no streaks of flour and the mixture should be chocolate coloured.

Divide the batter evenly between the four ramekins.

Unwrap the four/eight Easter eggs (or the caramel chocolate, if using) and place it in the middle of the cake batter. Press the chocolate eggs/pieces into the batter so they are in the middle of it, preferably the top of the eggs/pieces is covered by batter.

Bake in the oven for 12 minutes. The centre of the mixture should be a little springy/wet.

Turn out onto plates and serve while warm. 

Triple Layer Brownies

I think I should write a cookbook all about brownies. I have never screwed them up yet. I make mistakes with everything - hell, even pasta - but not brownies. It's like my gift. I think that would be an awesome cookbook - all these different versions of brownies. I can never go past a good looking brownie.

Now these guys are definitely good looking and delicious. They are one of the best brownies I've ever made. I still like my Skinny PB and Banana Brownies best, but these are a less healthier version. Let's not pretend these are healthy - these are decadent, rich, caramel, fudgy and crunchy, all at once. They are high class brownies - they've got everything.

I suppose technically there are four layers to these: brownie, caramel, brownie and rice cereal top. However, I count the brownie layer as one. Both brownie layers are beautiful and fudgy, like all good brownies are. The caramel layer is not particularly strong but gently melts in the fudgy brownie so with each bite there is a hint of delectable caramel. The rice cereal layer is crunchy and chocolate, with the slightest hint og peanut butter.

I always think of caramel desserts as adult desserts. And I always think of chocolate covered rice bubbles as the perfect childhood birthday party treat (along with fairy bread). So this brownie is the perfect mix of an adult dessert and a childhood favourite. You can't go wrong.

No really, you can't go wrong.

Level of Difficulty: Pretty easy. Time consuming, but easy to make. Three bowls – not that much cleaning required.

Average Cost: Cheap

Main Ingredients: chocolate, caramel, peanut butter, rice cereal

Occasion: Dessert, snack, breakfast. Who cares when – they’re that good.

Menu Options: I would stick with following the recipe when it comes to this one. Maybe try inventing after you try this recipe.

Makes 21 small brownies

What you need:

For the brownies:

200 g dark chocolate

¾ cup butter

½ cup brown sugar

1 cup sugar

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

1 tsp salt

For the caramel layer:

1 cup caramel bits/pieces

2 tbsp cooking cream

For the rice treats layer:

½ cup peanut butter (smooth or crunchy, your choice)

½ cup dark chocolate melts/chopped

2 cups rice bubbles or other rice breakfast cereal

What to do:

Make the brownies first.

Preheat the oven to 200 degrees Celsius. Grease a brownie pan and line it with parchment paper. You need to do this for this recipe! Caramel is VERY hard to remove from a pan.

Break up the chocolate and place in a large, microwave proof bowl with the butter. Microwave the butter and chocolate in 30 second increments until the butter and chocolate have melted together.

In the same bowl, provided it is large enough, add the sugars. Whisk until the mixture is well combined.

Add the eggs and vanilla at once and whisk until well combined.

Sift the flour and salt into the mixture and using a wooden spoon, stir the mixture together. Be careful here not to overmix the brownie batter. You want to mix until the last of the flour strands have faded.

Pour half of the batter, which should be heavy and thick, into a brownie pan. Place in the oven and cook for 10-15 minutes.

Reserve the other half of the batter – place a sheet of cling wrap over the top of the brownie batter so it does not dry out.

Watch the brownie pan to make sure the edges of the brownies don’t burn. Remove from oven when a skewer inserted into the middle only has a little brownie on it (this is somewhere in the 10-15 minute mark).

Do not turn off your oven yet!

Allow the brownies to cool for 20 minutes.

Caramel layer:

While the brownies are cooling, in a large bowl, melt together the caramel bits and cream. To make the caramel layer.

When the brownies have cooled, add the still warm caramel layer over the top of the brownies. Spread it evenly over the surface of the brownies.

Add the remaining brownie mixture over the caramel layer. Spread evenly to cover the surface of the brownies. If some of the caramel and top brownie layer get mixed together, that’s fine.

Bake in the oven for another 15 minutes.

Remove from the oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Now you can turn your oven off.

Rice cereal layer:

While the brownies are cooling, in a large bowl melt the peanut butter and dark chocolate together, to create the rice cereal layer. I did this by placing the peanut butter and dark chocolate in a large bowl and microwaving for 30 second intervals until it was melted. Stir the mixture together so it is a dark brown.

Add the rice bubbles or similar cereal to the peanut butter and chocolate mix and stir in well so they are covered by the chocolate.

Spread this peanut butter/chocolate/rice cereal mix over the top of the slightly cooled brownies.

Refrigerate the brownies for 2 hours or until the top layer has set. Cut into squares and serve cold.