Caramel Fudge Brownies

The only thing better than chocolate glazed brownies would be chocolate glazed brownies with a fudge and caramel center.  Caramel, I just can't resist it.  These brownies are wonderful chilled, but you can go for a molten effect and heat it for a few seconds in the microwave.  You will end up with a tiny lake of heated caramel and fudge spreading around your brownie.

I made the caramel that went into these brownies, but in a pinch you can use caramel ice cream topping or melt down some packaged caramels and thin them with some milk.


Brownies:
1/2 cup tub margarine
2 squares (2 oz) unsweetened chocolate
1 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 cups unbleached all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla

Melt margarine and chocolate together in the microwave. Stir often and be careful not to overheat. Add in sugar and vanilla Beat the eggs lightly in a small bowl before adding them to the chocolate mixture. Stir in flour. Pour into a greased 8x8 pan and bake at 350 for 12 to 15 minutes. Be careful not to overbake. Cool.  Cut into 16 squares.  Divide each square into two layers.

Chocolate Fudge Sauce/Caramel Center:
14 oz non fat sweetened condensed milk
6oz milk chocolate chips
6oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup non fat evaporated milk
Thinned caramel

Mix together sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Heat on high in the microwave for 30 second intervals, stirring after each interval.  The mixture is done when it's smooth.  Let cool a bit.  Spoon about 1/3 of the chocolate mixture into a pastry bag or a ziplock with the corner cut off.  Pipe a rim of fudge around the bottom brownie layer edge to create a well for the caramel.  Spoon the caramel into the center.  Put the top layer of the brownie in place.  Repeat with remaining brownies.

Stir in evaporated milk into the remaining chocolate to make a thin glaze.  (You can add or reduce milk to make your glaze thicker or thinner.)  Spoon glaze over top of the brownies, make sure to drizzle down over the sides.  Chill until glaze is set.


Another picture of the goodies...

I should have let my fudge cool a little more before I piped it around the edges of the brownie.  Even if I had I wouldn't win any neatness awards on this one....ehehehe.  Of course if I had let my fudge cool a bit more I could have made the center layer a bit thicker and thus worked in a larger pool of caramel.  Next time!  ;) Nothing like a little pool of caramel waiting for you in the center of your brownie....soooo yummy.

I've been very into the stuffed brownie thing lately...which is neat but time consuming to make.  ;)  A quicker version of this recipe might be to leave the brownies unsliced and do the fudge border and caramel center effect across the top....something like a checkerboard.  Maybe a little fudge glaze drizzled over the top to finish it off.  I may to have to try this...it would be quite pretty I think.