Coconut Caramel Brownies

Here was an adventure! This Coconut Caramel recipe is from MakeitNaked.com. I was expecting Turtle Brownies, which these are not... BUT if you like the coconut in Almond Joy or Mound candy bars... these are for you! Also, the brownie recipe was epic fudge-y and chocolatey... so if you just want a brownie, try this recipe! I combined my usual brownie recipe and the given brownie recipe.

This is the adventure part: My caramel wouldn't brown. The first time it overcooked and the sugar become granular (if you try it and don't succeed, you'll know exactly what I'm talking about). The second time I don't think I waited long enough for it to get brown because I was concerned about the previous attempt. After adding in the cream and coconut became a clumpy mess looking mixture that I poured over the brownies. It was actually pretty tasty. But it was a soft/sweet frosting type topping, not as much of a caramel. I have included the recipe below, but I think that I would try the caramel from my homemade twix bars for a more 'turtle' style brownie and add pecans.

Overall, you can also add in chopped nuts if you choose or make a chocolate drizzle to go over it!

What have we been doing with this big ol tray of brownies? Serving them affogato style! Warm brownie (about 30 seconds in the microwave) with some frozen yogurt and then a shot of espresso poured over it!

Everything but the flour

Really thick batter, pan lined w/ parchment paper

Baked! Can't really tell the dif tho

Caramel: Water and sugar

Boiling sugar

Then the sugar will become clear, then
bubbles a little more.
I did the caramel for about
15 minutes total.

 

Add coconut, vanilla, and cream.
Then pour over the brownies!

Brownie in an espresso bath =)

Brownie Recipe 
Adapted from makeitnaked and my brownie recipe

1.5 sticks butter, melted

2 cups white sugar (1 white, 1 brown)

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

3 eggs

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Grease a 9×13 baking dish (or line w/ foil or parchment paper) and set aside.

Microwave butter at 15 second increments until melted. In stand mixer combine the melted butter and sugars. 
Once the mixture is smooth add vanilla. 
Add the eggs one at a time, whisking after each addition.
In small bowl combine cocoa powder, flour, and salt. Slowly add into wet mixture. Stir in chocolate chips. This is very thick batter. 
Pour into prepared baking dish and bake for 35 minutes, or until a knife inserted into the center of the brownies comes out clean. Remove from oven and let cool.

Coconut Caramel (from makeitnaked)

Ingredients:

1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup heavy cream
1 tablespoon butter
pinch of kosher salt
2 cups unsweetened shredded coconut

Directions:

1. In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, add the sugar and water. Stir occasionally. Watch closely and let the sugar liquefy and turn an amber/brown color. This will take a few minutes, but once the color starts to turn a light brown it will quickly turn to a deeper brown, so watch very closely at that point. Remove from heat.
2. Stir in the salt, cream and butter, and be careful of splattering when adding the cream. Stir constantly until smooth.
3. Stir in the coconut.
4. Pour onto cooled brownies while caramel is still warm.

 

5 Ingredient Saltine Toffee

Another holiday recipe update!!

Ok, 5 ingredients, how complicated could this be? (I made 3 batches by the end of the holiday season).

Quick notes:
1) Use a casserole dish instead of a cookie sheet as the edges will keep the toffee part contained when it bubbles and prevent the crackers from separating too much.
2) Line the dish with tin foil (and non stick spray) or parchment paper because the toffee gets sticky

NOTE: I have also read the recipe made with cinnamon graham crackers so I did make a batch to test this. I found it to be very similar to the saltines.

Saltine Toffee

Ingredients
1 sleeve of saltine crackers
1 cup butter (2 sticks)
1 cup brown sugar (dark or light)
2-3 cups chocolate chips
1-2 cups chopped nuts (pecans)

Preheat oven to 350F
Line the saltine crackers in the bottom of the pan in a single layer.
In small pot combine 2 sticks of butter and 1 cup of brown sugar. Bring it to a boil for for 2-3 minutes.
Pour over crackers. Bake for about 5 minutes (it will get all bubbly)
Microwave chocolate chips at 30 second intervals stirring between intervals. Continue until smooth. (Approx 1 1/2 - 2 minutes)
Remove and using a spatula spread the chocolate. Scatter a few handfuls of chopped nuts over the top.
Let it chill in the fridge.
Leave on counter about 10 minutes so it will be easier to slice.

Snickers Brownies

Guess you could say I'm on a brownie binge. I made some snickers brownies for my aunt and my cousins!

Same recipe as the Slutty Brownies and PB brownies. But I chopped up 12 mini snickers bars and added them into batter.

Sugar, melted butter, and vanilla!

add 2 eggs

Combine Cocoa and Flour

Add to wet ingredients

Combined

mini snickers!

Chop em up!

Add the snickers into the batter, pour into pan

Perfectly cooked at 20 minutes, edges are starting to come off the sides

DELISH!

Recipe below not halved

Brooke's Best Bombshell Brownies

Ingredients:
1 c butter, melted
3 cups white sugar
1 tbs vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 c flour
1 c cocoa powder
1 tsp salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350.
Grease 9x13 baking dish
Combine melted butter, sugar, vanilla
Beat eggs in 1 at a time
Sift flour, cocoa powder and salt together.
Add dry ingredients to wet ingredients.
Stir in chocolate chips.
Spread batter into prepared dish.

Bake in oven approx 20-30 minutes.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread "Twix" Bars

I found this recipe on Pinterest the other day and I have been waiting to create them! I also looked at this website because it was similar and had some more instructions. It is also called Millionaires Shortbread.

The layers of shortbread, caramel, and chocolate just sounded amazing. What really intrigued me? The sprinkle of salt on top of the chocolate.

I looked over many shortbread recipes and finally decided to go with the original recipe. I used brown sugar instead of plain white sugar and added in 2 tsp of vanilla extract. I blended the sugar and butter, in my stand mixer, until it was creamed, this took about a minute. In a separate bowl I combined the flour, baking powder, and the salt. I mixed it all in with a fork. Then I combined it together until it formed a crumbly mixture.

I put the mixture into the pan lined with parchment paper and put it in the preheated 325F oven for about 15 minutes. (When it was done I put it in the fridge to cool quickly, next time I might make the shortbread the day before so it has time to crisp up more).

Crumbly mixture

Pressed

Baked

While the shortbread was in the oven I started on the caramel. After reading the reviews I decided to half the caramel amount, I'm glad I did and was happy with the end result. In my medium saucepan I put the butter, sweetened condensed milk, sugar, and light corn syrup. I heated it over medium stirring occasionally until the butter was melted and sugar dissolved. Then I turned it on high and stirred constantly until the mixture came to a boil. I mean constant stirring. Don't stop stirring! Once it reached a boil turn it down to about a med low heat so it simmers (little bubbles). Keep stirring! It took about 10 minutes for it to turn a light amber color. Then I took it off the heat. I let it cool for a few minutes but not long enough for it to get hard and too sticky. (Next time I will add a tsp of vanilla).

Melting

Boil

Simmer

I poured the caramel over the cooled shortbread and spread it out. I let it sit for a few minutes and then I spread the semi sweet chocolate chips over the top and continued to spread them out as they melted. Let it sit for a few minutes. (Next time I'll use good chocolate instead of store brand chocolate chips). Then sprinkled with the coarse salt.

I let it chill in the fridge overnight before cutting. When I took it out the next morning to cut I took the entire thing out of the pan and put it on a cutting board to chop up. I made about 1x1 squares or smaller because these are very rich. They are also great being bite sized.

Overall? This was a great recipe. Very easy and not too time consuming. It also makes a lot! It would be easy enough to double the recipe if you had large parties to go to as well. They look fancy and aren't as complicated as they look. 

I might try a different shortbread recipe next time, Paula Dean has a good one for Pecan Shortbread. So I might try that one as a base.

But, just have patience with the caramel and don't stop stirring!

Salted Caramel Chocolate Shortbread Bars

Adapted from Annie's Eats

Makes approx 100-120 pieces depending on desired size

For the shortbread layer:
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tsp. baking powder
¼ tsp. salt
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, at room temperature
½ cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla

For the caramel layer:
½  cup (1 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
½  cup sugar
2 tbsp. light corn syrup
1 (14 oz.) cans sweetened condensed milk

For the chocolate layer:
8 oz. semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
Coarse sea salt, for sprinkling

Shortbread

Preheat the oven to 325° F.  Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.  In a small bowl combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Stir with a fork to blend, and set aside.  In separate bowl beat the butter, vanilla, and sugar until well blended, about 1-2 minutes.  Mix in dry ingredients just until incorporated (crumbly).  Transfer the dough to the prepared baking pan and press in an even layer over the bottom of the pan.  Bake 15-18 minutes or until golden.  (If the crust puffs up a bit while baking, just gently press it down while it is cooling.) Let cool completely.

Caramel

Combine the butter, sugar, corn syrup and condensed milk in a medium saucepan over medium heat.  Heat, stirring occasionally, until the butter is melted.  Increase the heat to medium-high and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to maintain a simmer, stirring constantly.  Continue simmering and stirring until the mixture turns an amber color and thickens slightly.  Pour the mixture over the shortbread layer, smooth the top, and allow to cool completely and set. 

Layer caramel over shortbread, sprinkle chocolate over the warm caramel and spread it out as it melts. Sprinkle salt over the chocolate.

Chill 2 hours until ready to cut and serve.

Enjoy!