Outrageous Caramel Brownies

This is seriously one of my favorite desserts. I LOVE chocolately desserts that have other flavors involved. These fudgy brownies have crunchy pecans and gooey caramel! YUM! Hopefully the pictures and step-by-step directions will make you want to go make these...like right now! :) And yes, I just finished licking caramel off my fingers from eating one!

Here we go! The ingredients:

~1 bag of caramel squares--unwrapped (my mom added DUH! in her recipe here which cracks me up every time I read it)

~1/2 cup evaporated milk

~1 cup butter/margarine

~2 tsp vanilla

~2 cups sugar

~4 eggs, slightly beaten

~1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

~3/4 cup cocoa powder

~1/4 tsp salt

~2 cups semisweet chocolate chunks/chips, divided

~1 1/2 cups chopped pecans, divided

~1 tsp vegetable oil

Heat oven to 350 and grease a 9x13 pan...or use non-stick foil, which is what I did.

Heat the caramels and milk in a small saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently, until caramels are melted and smooth.

  

 Melt butter in a large saucepan over low heat.

 I actually have both meltings going on at the same time. So that the caramel is still warm when the batter is ready.

Before I even turned on the stovetop, I "Rachel Ray'ed" the rest of the recipe. To "Rachel Ray" a recipe is a term that my mom and I came up with. It means to pre-measure all the ingredients and have them in various dishes and containers ready to just pour as you go. You know...just like you see on Rachel Ray or any cooking show where they just grab a little bowl that has the pre-measured ingredient in it and they don't have to get out their measuring cups/spoons. I find that I then only have to read the ingredient list once and the baking part is much smoother with everything ready to go. Here all all my ingredients lined up in the order I need to add them.

 Once the butter is melted, stir in sugar, vanilla and eggs until well blended.

Stir in flour, cocoa, and salt.

Stir in 1 1/2 cups of the chocolate chips and 1 cup of the pecans.

Spread the batter evenly in the 9x13 pan.

 

Gently and evenly drizzle melted caramel over the batter preventing caramel from reaching the bottom of the bars. Caramel will cover the entire surface of batter.

 

Bake 35-40 minutes or until set.

  Heat remaining 1/2 cup of chocolate chips and the oil in a saucepan over low heat.

Stirring frequently until smooth.

 Drizzle over warm brownies. Sprinkle with remaining 1/2 cup of pecans.

Cool 20 minutes. Refrigerate for 1 1/2 hours or until chocolate is set before cutting.

I personally like to let my brownie be at room temperature for a short while before I eat...that way the chocolate softens up to a fudgy yumminess  and the caramel is soft and gooey...oh yum!

Let me know if you make these and what you think! Happy baking!