New Recipe - Caramel Brownies

This recipe is from a dear family friend. They are quick and easy and I have already made them twice and I've only had the receipe for about 10 days!

I think baking should be easy for all Accountants since we are all so detail-oriented, but I learn more and more each day that this is just not the case. However, I didn't completely follow the recipe for this one. First, I used a glass Pyrex, so I lowered the temperature to 325 degrees which also affected the cooking time. Then I decided it was silly to not use the entire can of sweetened condensed milk so I added the small leftover amount to the caramel sauce. I didn't measure out the chocolate chips at all--just added what looked right. This is one of those receipes that is definitely not an exact science!

Caramel Brownies

1 box German Chocolate cake mix
3/4 cup butter
1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk
60 caramels
1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Melt caramels and 1/3 cup sweetened condensed milk. Make sure to stir constantly or the sugar will burn and stick to the pot. Not good for the brownies or cleanup.

Mix German Chocolate cake mix, butter and 1/2 cup sweetened condensed milk until fully incorporated.

Take 1/2 of the cake mixture and pat in the bottom of a 9x13" greased and floured cake pan. Bake for 8 minutes at 350 degrees.

Remove pan from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. Pour caramel mixture over chocolate chips. Take the remaining cake mixture and sprinkle on top of the caramel. Really, it's more like crumble over the top. This worried me the first time, but I promise it turned out fine.

Bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 20 minutes.

These brownies are VERY gooey! I had trouble neatly cutting them even once fully cooled overnight. The second time I made them, I was a bit more rushed and tried to remove them from the pan after about an hour--not good. Trust me and wait at least two hours to take them out of the pan unless you don't mind a slightly molten pile of deliciousness for your dessert. If you are serving them to guests, resist the temptation and wait. They will be even better after the anticipation has had time to build.

That's all for today. Busy season is killing me, but I have to remember that we only have 55 days to go...geez, that sounds bad now that I think about it.