My kids were craving chocolate & caramel last night and well, I had to come to the rescue, you know, for the kids. 😉 Ok, so I suddenly felt up to chocolate and caramel too! I decided on making brownies! My husband LOVES brownies! Everyone was happy!! These are very rich and fudgy and the salted caramel gives it another level of decadence, so be warned, these are very rich, but soooo good! If you love chocolate like we do, you’re sure to like these!!

Ingredients:

1 1/4 cups mix of semi-sweet and milk chocolate chips or blocks of chocolate (dark chocolate could be yummy too!)

2 sticks Earth Balance butter, melted then cooled

1 cup maple or granulated sugar

1 cup brown sugar

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 cup gluten free all purpose flour (with xanthan gum)

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt

Caramel Sauce:

1 cup brown sugar

1 stick Earth Balance butter

1/4 cup almond milk

1 tsp vanilla extract

Add-ons:

Coarse sea salt

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 350°F. Spray a 11″ x 8″ glass pan with cooking spray, then line with parchment paper, hanging over to easily lift brownies out of pan when done.

2) In a large bowl: Stir with whisk the melted and cooled butter, both sugars, eggs and vanilla extract.

3) Sift together and add to that bowl: flour, cocoa and salt. Whisk lightly til just combined. Fold in 3/4 cup of the chocolate.

4) Spread batter in prepared pan. Sprinkle on top the remaining chocolate.

5) Bake at 350°F for 35-38 minutes. Check doneness with a toothpick and when toothpick inserted comes out clean, but gooey in spots, it’s ready.

6) Let cool for ten minutes in pan.

7) Make caramel sauce while waiting for brownies to cool.

Directions for Caramel Sauce:
Bring brown sugar, butter, and milk to a gentle boil and cook until thickened, 2 minutes. Remove from heat. Add vanilla extract and stir in.

8) Spread the caramel sauce over the top of brownies. Sprinkle coarse sea salt on top. Let sit for another ten minutes.

Serve warm & enjoy the yummy-ness.

* Note: They’re more gooey the very day you make them & settle in and become more like fudge the next day. Either way, they’re very good!