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Salted caramel mocha brownies


These brownies were created one sunny Sunday morning in North Wales. Whist they were baking I also won at three games of Bananagrams so the day was wonderful before I'd even tasted them. 

 They were made with my friend Emily who loves mucking about in the kitchen as much as me - as well as being crazy about salted caramel. She infact scattered Maldon sea salt all over the top which took them from amazing to magical. 

 We didn't have any scales to hand whilst making these so the measurements were quite a clever art, demonstrating that as long as you're vaguely there with this recipe they will turn out brilliantly.

 To make a tray of salted caramel mocha brownies you will need:

 For the brownie mix
225g butter
115g milk chocolate
300g granulated sugar
2 tablespoons instant coffee
4 eggs
120g cocoa powder
130g plain flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
150g hazelnut chocolate spread (i.e. Nutella)

 For the caramel sauce
250ml black coffee
275g soft brown sugar
240ml double cream
2 tablespoons butter

 Salt to sprinkle over the baked brownies


Preheat the oven to 170C and line a baking tray with greaseproof paper.

 If there are two of you one can make the caramel sauce while the other makes the brownie mix so that the two are ready at the same time. Otherwise start by making the caramel sauce. Add the brown sugar and black coffee to a saucepan and bring up to a boil -  do this slowly as it will suddenly go from gentle simmer to volcanic. Keep both eyes on it at all times. Also do not stir - just wiggle the pan gently from side to side. 

 Keep at a boil for 5 minutes before taking off the heat to whisk in the butter and cream. Put back on the heat for a further 5 minutes until the caramel is thick enough to coat the back of a spoon (it won't actually look any thicker but it is). Leave to one side.

 For the brownie mix melt the chocolate and butter together in a large bowl, either over a bain-marie or in the microwave. Add to this the instant coffee and sugar. Fold it all together. Crack in the 4 eggs and sieve in the flour and cocoa powder and sprinkle in the salt. When all gently combined the mix will be pretty thick.

 Pour half of the brownie mix into the prepared tin and dollop over blobs of Nutella - 150g is a guide, just enough to get a few little dollops over the brownie mix. Pour over 3/4 of the caramel sauce - it's ok if it looks like a caramel brownie bath! The caramel will thicken more in the oven so all will be fine I promise. Add the other half of the brownie mix on top of this (don't worry if it doesn't totally cover the other layers) and put in the oven for 30 minutes, until the top is cooked and firm. 

 Allow to cool - yes, I know that's hard - play a game of Scrabble, Monopoly…something to pass the time. When cool enough to cut, slice into pieces and pour over the remaining 1/4 of caramel sauce. Decorate with crystals of sea salt and dig in. 

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