Yes! Yes! | Everyone deserves a gooey caramel brownie recipe

You may be as surprised as I was to learn that there are people who don’t have a gooey caramel brownie recipe. Shocking, I know. But if you are one of them, let me share my Yes! Yes! brownie recipe with you. In under 45 minutes, you’ll have a hot pan of gooey, caramel-stringy, could there be more chocolate, brownies on your kitchen counter.

The summer of 1990, I was just out of high school and I worked at 3M as a plant manager. Literally. Besides sorting smocks for laundry, I cleaned bathrooms, refilled vending machines in the cafeteria, and watered the plants around the offices and lobby areas. So they jokingly called me the plant manager. It was during this stint that a co-worker, Judy B., shared these brownies and I’m pretty sure I begged for the recipe.

Years, and years, oh my gosh, 23 years and 50 extra pounds later, my recipe card is bent and crinkled and the plastic protector is melted on the entire left side. When I bring these bars to work now, they disappear. But I never really thought there are people who don’t have their own recipe for caramel brownies. So I never blogged it. I assumed people would be like, “What?! As if I don’t already have a recipe like that.” Boring.

Then one morning I almost fell off my couch when I was watching my favorite T.V. show and Ree from Food Network’s Pioneer Woman showed the world how to make Knock You Naked Brownies. And I was like, “What?! I’ve been making those for years!” Not boring. And then I felt like there was no place for me in the blogging world anymore because anything I had to offer had already been done.

A few months later at work, my friend Mary said she was still waiting for me to blog my caramel brownie recipe. I told her I hadn’t blogged it because I figured everyone had a similar recipe and didn’t need mine. Mary didn’t. She needed my recipe. And for you chocolate lovers out there, you know I really mean needed.

So now, I share it with you. And when you bake them for your friends and they beg you for the recipe, you will say, Yes! Yes!.

{Yes! Yes! Caramel Brownies}

50 caramels (I buy a bag of Kraft caramels and use them all, minus the few my kids run away with.)

1 package chocolate cake mix (Any flavor will do – milk chocolate, chocolate fudge, german chocolate, etc.)

3/4 cup butter, melted

1 small can evaporated milk, divided into two portions, 1/3 cup each

1 cup chopped nuts, optional

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (I cover the pan of brownies so who really knows how much that is.)

Preheat oven to 350°. In a large bowl, mix melted butter, cake mix, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and nuts. This can be done by hand. Spread half of this mixture into a lightly greased 9×9-inch or 13×9-inch cake pan. Bake for 6 minutes. Take out of the oven.

Melt caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk. Stir until creamy.

Cover the hot crust with the chocolate chips, then pour the caramel mixture over the chips. Top with the remaining batter and bake the 9×9 pan for 20-25 minutes and for the 13×9 pan, bake 15-18 minutes.

Cool completely before cutting. Store in an airtight container. Share with everyone you know.

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Do you know nutmeats? | Orange Chewins Bars

Before I tell you the conversation that led me to the discovery of nutmeats, let me give you the background on our Orange Chewins. Straight up, these brown-sugared, orange slice candy-filled, coconut, crackly crusted bars are not my favorite. But they are one of my sister Heidi’s favorite Christmas treats that my mom makes.

My sister travels a lot in her corporate trainer job and doesn’t get much time to spend at home, this means no time to bake and a lot of time being exposed to candy bars with a 7-year gas station shelf life. So, being the (sorta) nice sister that I am, I wanted to bake Orange Chewins for Heidi one weekend when she was coming home.

But I didn’t.

Then during our family Christmas, my mom asked me if I had made them for Heidi that one time a couple of months back.

With my sisters, mom, and step-mom sitting around the tables, I said, “No, I didn’t make them because there was an ingredient in the recipe that I didn’t know what it was.”

My mom asked me what it was and I said I couldn’t remember – just that it was something that I wasn’t familiar with.

Perplexed, my mom said, “There’s not anything unusual in them – brown sugar, eggs, orange slices, coconut…”

But I knew that there was something on that recipe card that stopped me from baking Orange Chewins for Heidi that weekend. So I dug into my cupboard and pulled the card from my wooden recipe roll-top file.

“Nutmeats!” I exclaimed. “There are nutmeats in there and I don’t know what that is.”

“Those are nuts. Just the insides of nuts,” my mom said.

“Oh, THAT’S what they are. You can tell it’s an old recipe because they are just called nuts now,” I said trying to recover an ounce of scratch-baking pride.

Pecan Pieces (a.k.a. pecan nutmeats)

A few weeks later, I baked Orange Chewins for the first time. But by that time, the coconut I had was gone. So I substituted oatmeal and sent them off to Heidi’s. She liked them that way so much that she said she’ll bake them that way from now on. I liked them this way too because I don’t like coconut, which is probably why I never really like these. Either way, coconut or oatmeal or a little of both, these could become a favorite at your house.

I thought it would be nice to share a family recipe that isn’t as widely recognized as grandma’s chocolate chip cookies.

But secretly, I’m hoping there’s at least one person out there who reads this and says, “Ha, I wouldn’t have known what nutmeats are either.”

Orange Chewins Bars

3 eggs well beaten

1 tablespoon water

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 cups brown sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1 1/2 cups orange slices (Heidi uses floured kitchen scissors to cut them easily into bite sized pieces. I toss the pieces with sugar to keep them from sticking to each other.)

1/2 cup chopped nutmeats (pecan pieces, chopped walnuts, etc.)

1/2 cup coconut OR 1/2 cup quick-cooking oatmeal

2 cups flour

1. Beat eggs until foamy with the water.
2. Add vanilla, gradually add brown sugar  and salt. Beat well and then add orange slice candy pieces, coconut, nuts & flour. Mix well.
3. Pour into greased 15 x 10 x 1 pan. Bake at 375° for 20 minutes.
   
4. Cut before completely cooled.

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Your IT guy knows how to make monster cookie bar strips

He’s been holding out on you. No, it’s not about monster (strip) bars, your IT guy knows how to bake! His secret is out – and from one big, bad batch, you can make a 10-pound pan of golden brown monster bars and at least two dozen Monster cookies easily mistaken for small pizzas jammed with M&M’s, oatmeal, peanut butter, and chocolate chips.

For the sake of privacy, we’ll call him Rich. Ok, maybe it wasn’t his idea to cut the bars into strips and triangles, but Rich was the one who brought these to work in 2007. And I’ve only used his monster cookie recipe since.

I recommend you use a sturdy, wooden spoon toward the end of the mixing process in this recipe. If you try to whip these up with nothing but your electric mixer, it’ll start smoking like a hot summer night’s fire pit.

I like to make a pan of bars and roll the rest of the dough into big cookie balls and put them in the freezer to bake another day. (Use a cookie scoop so you are making similar sizes.) Line the balls of dough on a large cookie sheet(s) and put them in the freezer. Don’t let the cookies touch each other. Once they are frozen, you can put the cookie balls in plastic containers or plastic freezer bags. When you want fresh-baked Monster Cookies, grab how many ever you want from the freezer and thaw. Then bake as usual at 350° for approximately 12-16 minutes, depending on how large they are.

Monster Cookies, Bars and Strips

2 sticks softened butter

2-1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

2 cups white sugar

2 cups brown sugar

4 teaspoons baking soda

6 eggs

1 Tablespoon light corn syrup

1 Tablespoon vanilla

9 cups quick-cooking oats

2-1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips

3-1/4 cups plain M&M’s

Preheat oven to 350°. Prepare pans. If you want to use all your cookie dough at once, you can make one 13×9 pan of bars (baking time takes about 20-25 minutes) and at least two dozen large cookies (baking time takes about 12-16 minutes). Or, you can make two 13×9 pans of bars. Or, if you only want cookies, you can make at least six dozen large cookies or even a few more dozen if you make them smaller.

1. In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer, cream softened butter and peanut butter together.
2. Add white sugar and brown sugar, beating until well combined.
3. Add baking soda.
4. Add eggs and beat well.
5. Pour in the corn syrup and vanilla. Continue mixing until everything is incorporated well.
6. At this point, you should be able to add at least a few cups of the oats and still use your mixer. But once the dough gets too heavy, stop using the mixer and continue adding oats stirring the batter with a wooden spoon. Use your sexy arm muscles.
7. Stir in the M&M’s and chocolate chips.

If you are making bars, spread half of the dough into a 13×9-inch pan. Bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes or until nice and golden brown. If you take the pan out before they turn golden brown, the middle will not be done.

For cookies, baking time depends on how large you make them. Place on cookie sheet. Using the back of a spoon, gently push down the dough a little but so that they spread out instead of baking in one mound. Bake at 350° for 12-16 minutes, or until golden brown. I like to sprinkle just a tiny bit of pink Himalayan salt or sea salt on mine when they come out of the oven.

That’s it! Now you’ve got enough monster cookies, bars, and strips to share with your favorite IT guys. And gals.

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Kiss my orange chocolate brownies

A teaspoon of zest and the juice of an orange turn a bowl-full of powdered sugar into a creamy kiss from the sun on top of these chewy, chocolate brownies.

I recently purchased the Better Homes and Gardens Brownies & Bars magazine and the first treats I made were Orange-Kissed Chocolate Brownies.

They are worthy of making again so I’m keeping track of this recipe, with a note to serve with ice-cold milk or steamy coffee. The only thing I might add next time is a dash or two of Grand Marnier^® to the brownie batter.

Next on my list from this magazine are:

1. Toffee-pumpkin pie bars
2. Apple-cinnamon streusel bars
3. Goat cheese brownies with honey swirl
4. Pistachio and cream cheese sugar cookies

Speaking of orange and chocolate desserts, here’s a good recipe for orange-chocolate cheesecake from KFAFT. It’s the one I photographed for the title header at the top of my home page. Of course, I add Grand Marnier^® to that recipe too. I’m one of those parents who’ll notice their liqueur missing from the baking pantry, not the liquor cabinet.

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What’s in the layers? | Marshmallow chocolate cream cheese bars

You may recognize these treats from childhood potlucks in your church basement or from family reunions with people you didn’t really know. And unless your mom shared the recipe with you, the secret layers in these marshmallow chocolate cream cheese bars have long been revealed only to those who bake them.

Each bite holds four layers of cake-like brownies, sweet cream cheese, chewy chocolate, salty pecans, sticky marshmallows, and soft, almost flaky, chocolate vanilla frosting. You will wear a path in the floor to the refrigerator.

Prepare yourself — you’ll use three mixing bowls, a small bowl, and a saucepan to make these bars. But trust me. I would never steer you down a dishwashing path if it weren’t absolutely, without a chocolate doubt, worth every squirt of dish soap.

Marshmallow chocolate cream cheese bars

Brownie base:

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened (do not substitute margarine)

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 (1-ounce) square unsweetened chocolate, melted and set aside to cool slightly

1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 cup pecan pieces or chopped pecans

Cream cheese layer:

6 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1/4 cup butter, softened (do not substitute margarine)

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

2 tablespoons flour

1/2 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 cup pecan pieces or chopped pecans

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

3 cups miniature marshmallows

Frosting:

1/4 cup butter

2 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temperature

1 (1-ounce) square unsweetened chocolate

2 tablespoons milk

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar. Add eggs, melted chocolate, and vanilla; mix well on medium speed. In a separate bowl, combine flour and baking powder. Gently stir into chocolate mixture. Fold in the pecans. Pour into a greased 13 x 9 pan and spread evenly.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the butter and beat until well combined. Beat in the sugar, egg, flour, and vanilla until creamy. Fold in the pecans. Spread evenly over the chocolate layer. Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the cream cheese layer and bake at 350° for 20-25 minutes. Edges will begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do not overbake or the brownie layer will be dry.

Remove the baking pan from the oven. Sprinkle the marshmallows over the chocolate chips. Bake another 2 minutes or until the marshmallows become puffed. Remove from oven. Gently spread the marshmallows over the layer of chocolate chips. Cool on a wire rack.

Frosting:

In a small saucepan over low heat, cook and stir the butter, cream cheese, unsweetened chocolate and milk. Slowly melt and stir until smooth. Pour into a large mixing bowl. Add one cup of powdered sugar at a time, beating after each cup. Beat in vanilla. Spread over the cooled bars. Store in the refrigerator.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen, depending on how large you cut them.

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{I Can’t Bake at 350 | No-bake S’mores Bars}

No-bake goodies are a hit in the summer when we don’t want our ovens to heat up the house. Like these S’mores bars. But now it’s fall and kitchens everywhere are heating up with warm nutmeg, spicy ginger, and creamy pumpkin sweets.

Except at my house. My oven is broken. So, to prevent myself from going into a serious I-can’t-bake-depression, I’m flipping through my recipe box for recipes that will satisfy my need to preheat to 350°. Gooey, chocolatey S’mores bars do the trick.

The key to making S’mores bars taste like the real campfire deal is to use HERSHEY’S chocolate candy bars.

S’mores Bars

3/4 cup light corn syrup

3 Tablespoons unsalted butter

1 cup milk chocolate chips, preferably HERSHEY’S

2 (4.4-ounce each) HERSHEY’S chocolate candy bars, divided

1 teaspoon vanilla

9 cups Golden Grahams cereal (12-ounce box)

3 cups mini marshmallows, plus a handful to sprinkle over the top if desired

Line a 9 x 13-inch pan with parchment paper or non-stick foil, or grease pan lightly with butter.

Microwave the corn syrup, butter, 1 cup milk chocolate chips, and 1 HERSHEY’S candy bar in a large bowl, uncovered, on medium-high for 1-1/2 minutes. Stir until almost smooth. Microwave again, uncovered, until large bubbles form on the surface, about 2-1/2 minutes longer.

Stir in vanilla. Pour the cereal in the bowl and toss until coated with mixture. Fold in the marshmallows. Chop the other HERSHEY’S candy bar and fold into the cereal mixture. Dump into the pan and press evenly with the back of a large metal spoon sprayed with cooking spray. Toss a handful of mini marshmallows on the top and tap down so they stick. If you have a kitchen torch, lightly toast the marshmallows.

Let cool completely. Cut and share.

See more of my no-bake recipes.

What other treats could I make while I wait for my oven to get fixed? The stove top still works.

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{Desk-hopping Cosmic Caramel Oatmeal Bars}

The recipe for these gooey, candy-topped oatmeal bars has been playing musical desk drawers since 2007. It showed up five years ago when my day job office put together an employee cookbook.

A student employee, John, brought the recipe card to work to submit to the cookbook. He has since moved on within the company but the recipe has stayed in my work group ever since, moving from desk drawer to desk drawer, even between buildings.

I added peanut butter to the crust but you could skip it if you want. And be creative with the toppings. Butterfinger pieces might be an excellent choice in place of M&M’s. You could even add chopped nuts or crushed pretzel pieces to add a salty crunch.

The original recipe was called Pizza Bars, but that seemed a little too plain for these hyped-up, caramel bars loaded with chocolate and oatmeal. So, they have a new name now, along with a new home — my recipe box, and yours.

Cosmic Caramel Oatmeal Bars

1 cup butter, softened

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup creamy peanut  butter

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1-1/2 cup flour

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 package caramels

1 can sweetened condensed milk

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1 cup mini M&M’s

1 cube vanilla almond bark

1 teaspoon vegetable oil

Preheat oven to 350°. Grease a jelly roll pan. Unwrap caramels and place in a small saucepan. Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine soda, salt, flour, and oats. Set aside. In a medium mixing bowl cream butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Gradually add flour mixture to butter mixture, beating until combined. Press mixture into greased pan.

Bake at 350° for 12-15 minutes or until golden brown. While it’s baking, melt sweetened condensed milk and caramels over low heat in a small saucepan. Stir constantly as it burns easily. Remove from heat once creamy.

Pour the caramel over the baked crust. Toss the chocolate chips onto the hot caramel and let sit for a couple of minutes, just until the chocolate is soft. Gently spread the chocolate over the bars. Top with mini M&M’s.

In a small bowl, melt almond bark and oil in microwave, stirring until smooth. Drizzle with a fork over the bars. Let cool for a couple of hours before cutting. Store in an airtight container. Do not store in the refrigerator as the caramel sauce becomes hard.

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What toppings would you add to make these your own creation?

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{Candy-coated Chocolate Oatmeal Bars}

Since a few of you don’t jump up and down drooling for peanut butter and chocolate, I made you a peanut butter-less version of Reese’s P.Bitty Bars. You get the same gooey chocolate middle and crumbly oatmeal layers, minus the peanut butter. Besides, I really needed to use up a bag of red and green M&M’s before I bring home Halloween candy.

Creamy chocolate filling:

1 (14-ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate

1 teaspoon vanilla

Oatmeal Dough:

1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened

1-1/4 cups packed brown sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 cups flour

2 cups old-fashioned oats, or quick-cooking oats are fine too

1/2 cup M&M’s mini baking bits (You can use regular M&M’s, just chop them up.)

Preheat oven to 350. Line 13×9 baking pan with non-stick foil, letting ends extend over edges. Or, simply spray baking pan with cooking spray.

Over low heat in a small saucepan, slowly melt chocolate and sweetened condensed milk, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for 1 minute, then stir in 1 teaspoon vanilla. Set aside to cool while you make the dough.

In a large mixing bowl, beat softened butter, brown sugar, 2 teaspoons vanilla, baking soda, and salt. Beat until fluffy. Add flour, 1/2 cup at a time, beating just until combined. Stir in oatmeal. Mix will be crumbly. Firmly press 2/3 of the dough into the bottom of the pan.

Spread the chocolate filling evenly over the dough.

With a pastry blender or with your hands, mix M&M’s baking bits into the remaining dough and then sprinkle over the chocolate. Lightly press the mixture into the chocolate so that once baked, the topping doesn’t fall off when you cut the bars.

Bake 25-30 minutes until lightly brown. Cool completely. If you used a foil-lined pan, pull the bars out and cut into squares on a cutting board. Otherwise, cut bars in pan. Store in an airtight container.

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{…you scream! | Frozen grasshoppers with mint fudge sauce}

Wait! Before you think you don’t have the right pan to make this minty, fudgey, kids-love-it treat, you can make this easy recipe in a traditional 13×9-inch cake pan.

As a matter of fact, I’ve always made my grasshopper ice cream dessert in a cake pan, but I wanted to try it in my mini cheesecake pans. Next time, I’ll go back to my 13×9 pan because the minis melted quicker and were more cumbersome to handle. Besides, my son who claims these are one of his favorite desserts, ate two anyway. 

So here’s how you make it:

{Frozen grasshoppers with mint fudge sauce}

1 box of your favorite brownie mix for 13×9-inch pan – and the ingredients to make them

1/2 gallon of chip and mint ice cream

whipped cream

Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips to sprinkle on top

Mint Fudge Sauce* 

1 cup Andes Creme de Menthe Baking Chips

1 cup whipping cream

1 Tablespoon butter

Bake the brownies according to package directions in a 13×9-inch pan. Set aside to cool brownies completely. (If you use mini cheesecake pans, bake the brownies approximately 15-17 minutes and then gently press down with a tart shaper.)

Meanwhile, make the fudge sauce. In a small saucepan over low heat, combine 1 cup of Andes baking chips, whipping cream and butter. Stir together until melted and smooth. Set aside to cool. The sauce will not be thick. Drizzle half of the sauce over the cooled brownies. Store the remaining sauce in the refrigerator to drizzle over the dessert when serving.

Take out the 1/2 gallon of ice cream and let soften in the refrigerator until it’s smooth enough to spread over the brownies. Using all of the ice cream, spread evenly over brownies.

Cover the cake pan and freeze for at least 4 hours. Cut into slices to serve. Top with whipped topping, drizzle with mint sauce, and sprinkle with Andes baking chips.

*Instead of making the mint fudge sauce, you can simply use hot fudge ice cream topping.

You can make this dessert fit your taste. Use a different flavor of ice cream and ice cream topping. Maybe even a simple vanilla bean with caramel topping. What kind will you make?

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{Almost an Empty Nester | Peanut Butter Brownies for Heidi}

Today is a big day — the day the second of three T-boys graduates from high school, which means my sister, Heidi, only has one more graduation before she’s an empty nester. Although my kids are just in middle school, I can only imagine the mixed emotions you feel when your child graduates and goes off to build their own life. The excitement of the day calls for one of Heidi’s favorite sweets. Cut yourself a big square because these brownies combine the flavors of rich chocolate and smooth peanut butter in a cross between cake-like and fudgey bars.

Garritt’s party was last weekend so I baked baby cheesecakes, including his favorite Reese’s^® Peanut Butter. Today, we celebrate with him as he walks the stage and accepts his diploma. And today we celebrate with my sister who is a mom that many of us aspire to be like. (And now that I took the time to write this post this morning, I’ll be late for my lunch with her — good thing these brownies have forgiving powers!)

{Peanut Butter Cream Cheese Brownies}

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

5 (1-ounce squares) unsweetened chocolate

2 1/3 cups white sugar, divided

6 eggs, divided

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1-3/4 cup flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

Preheat oven to 350˚. Spray 13×9 pan or line with parchment paper or non-stick foil.

In a small saucepan over low heat, melt butter and chocolate together, stirring until smooth. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of sugar, 5 eggs, and vanilla. Beat at medium speed until fluffy. Slowly beat in the chocolate mixture until combined.

In a small bowl, combine the flour and salt. Gradually add it to the chocolate mixture, beating until well combined. Spread into the prepared pan and set aside.

In a small mixing bowl, beat the softened cream cheese until smooth. Beat in the peanut butter, 1/3 cup sugar, and 1 egg. Beat on medium speed until creamy. Drop the peanut butter mixture onto the chocolate mixture and spread until smooth or gently marble with a knife.

Bake for 38-40 minutes or until a cake tester comes out with minimal crumbs. Cool completely before serving.

Any of you empty nesters have advice for my Heritage-Softail-riding-hardworking-sports-going sister?

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