Sweet And Salty Brownies (with A Layer Of Salted Caramel... !)

Total Time: 1 hr 10 mins Preparation Time: 40 mins Cook Time: 30 mins

Ingredients

• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1/2 cup heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon sea salt, fleur de sel recommended (see note)
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 1 1/4 cups flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 tablespoons dark cocoa
• 11 ounces dark chocolate, good quality and oarsely chopped (60-72%)
• 1 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes (2 sticks)
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 1/2 teaspoons sea salt, fleur de sel recommended (see note)
• 1 teaspoon sugar (coarse like muscovado or raw sugar)

Recipe

• 1 make the caramel: in a medium sauce pan, combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup water, stirring together carefully so you don't splash the sides of the pan. cook over high heat, until a thermometer reads 350 degrees and is dark amber in color.
• 2 remove from the heat and slowly add the cream (it will bubble up). then add the fleur de sel. whisk in the sour cream. set aside to cool.
• 3 make the brownie: preheat oven to 350. butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13" pan. line the bottom with parchment paper. butter the parchment.
• 4 in a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder.
• 5 place the chopped chocolate and butter in a bowl over simmering water.
• 6 stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water. whisk in both sugars until completely combined. removed bowl from pan.
• 7 add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. add the remaining eggs and whisk until just combined. add the vanilla and stir until incorporated. do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
• 8 add the flour mixture. using a rubber spatula, fold in the dry ingredients until there is just a trace of the flour mixture remaining.
• 9 assemble: pour half of the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top with an offset spatula. drizzle and 3/4 cup of the caramel sauce (not all of it) over the batter, trying to stay away from the edges. gently spread the caramel sauce evenly. in heaping spoonfuls, scoop the remaining batter over the caramel layer. smooth the brownie batter gently over the caramel. drizzle with remaining caramel.
• 10 bake the brownies for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through. brownies are done when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out with a few moist crumbs.
• 11 remove the brownies from the oven and sprinkle with the fleur de sel and the coarse sugar.
• 12 cool completely before serving. these are even better the next day, if they last that long --.
• 13 note: fleur de sel is a very expensive, natural flaked sea salt. i used freshly ground sea salt and it seemed to work just fine. :).