Fudgy Brownies Recipe: Caramel Brownies with Bacon
Crispy, salty bacon, covered with caramel sauce and enrobed with chewy brownies. This decadent dessert will please the biggest of bacon lovers and delight the chocolate lovers, too!
½cupcaramel sauce (see recipe below or use jarred variety of your choice)
4slicesbacondiced
CARAMEL SAUCE
1cup(7.5 ounces) granulated sugar
6tablespoons(3 ounces) unsalted butter
½cup (4 ounces) heavy cream
Instructions
In a frying pan over medium heat or oven at 375 degrees F., cook bacon until fat is rendered and bacon is crispy. Drain on paper toweling and set aside.
PREPARE CARAMEL SAUCE
Before you begin, have the cream and butter measured and next to the pan, ready to put in. Making caramel sauce is a fast process that won't allow hunting around for ingredients. If you don't work fast, the sugar will burn. Use caution!... the caramelized sugar is hotter than boiling water.
Heat sugar on moderately high heat in a heavy-bottomed 2 or 3-quart saucepan. As sugar starts to melt and liquefy, stir gently with a silicone whisk or wooden spoon, but don't over stir! Just stir from time to time to assure that the sugar on the bottom doesn't burn.
As soon as the sugar comes to a boil, stop stirring. You can swirl the pan a bit if you want, from this point on, but don't stir. Note: This recipe works best if you are using a thick-bottomed sauce pan. If you find that you end up burning some of the sugar before the rest of it is melted or you have large clumps of sugar, turn the heat to low and let it sit untouched...the clumps should melt. Next time you attempt it, add 1/4 cup of water to the sugar at the beginning of the process OR start with lower heat to help the sugar cook more evenly.
As soon as the sugar crystals have melted (the liquid sugar should be dark amber in color, like an old copper penny), immediately add butter and whisk until it's melted.
Remove from heat, count to three, then slowly add cream to the pan and whisk to incorporate. Note: When you add the butter and cream, the mixture will foam up considerably.
Whisk until caramel sauce is smooth. Let cool in the pan for a couple minutes, then pour into a glass jar and refrigerate or let sit to cool to room temperature before moving to next step.
PREPARE BROWNIES
Heat oven to temperature indicated on brownie box or homemade brownies recipe. Prepare brownie batter per directions, but add 1 teaspoon of caramel flavoring to the ingredients called for.
Pour batter into a greased 8" x 8" pan
Add cooked bacon to caramel sauce and stir to incorporate. Pour caramel bacon over brownie batter and use a knife to swirl it into the mixture.