Nutella Caramel Stuffed Brownies

These brownies are incredibly rich so a little bit really does go a long way.  The Nutella mixture melts in your mouth.  It does, however, need some graham cracker crumbs next time...about 1/3 cup should do it.  If you find graham cracker crumbs boring you could use some Oreo crumbs instead, but that is going to crank the richness factor even higher.  Why would you take it to that next level?  It's in the name of science!

A note about the caramel...if you don't feel like whipping up a batch of your own, you can use take a package of caramels and melt them down, thinning them with some milk.  You could also use a jar of caramel ice cream topping.


Nutella Caramel Stuffed Brownies

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.  Cut each square in half to form two layers.

Nutella/Caramel Center:
1/2 cup Nutella
2 tbls tub margarine
1 1/4 cup powdered sugar
Thinned Caramel

Mix together Nutella and margarine in a bowl and heat in the microwave until the mixture is smooth and melted together.  Stir in powdered sugar.  (If you decided to add graham cracker or cookie crumbs stir them in here.)

Take a spoonful of the Nutella mixture and shape it into a rope.  Place it along the edges of the bottom layer of a brownie to form a center well for the thinned caramel.  Spoon or pipe the thinned caramel into the well you just made.  Put the top layer of brownie in place and tap it down gently.  Repeat with all the other brownies.

Chocolate Glaze:
14 oz non fat sweetened condensed milk
6oz milk chocolate chips
6oz semi sweet chocolate chips
1 tsp vanilla
2 tbls non fat evaporated milk

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.  Stir in evaporated milk 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 be sure to drizzle it down the sides.  Chill to set the glaze.


A couple more pics of the process...

The brownie layers all nice and assembled before glazing.  It cries out for the chocolate bath...cries out I say!

I hand formed the Nutella edge, but you can use a pastry bag and pipe it on as well.  I don't recommend trying a ziplock bag though....the mixture is fairly thick and you can blow the seam out of a ziplock super easy.  ;)  Spooning the caramel into the center works great, but can be a tiny bit messy.  Pipe it in if you want to be neat.