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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{Forgotten kisses the sisters remembered}

At Christmas time last year, my mom texted my two sisters and me asking what we’d like her to bake for our Christmas together. She used to bake so much during the winter holiday that she would stack containers full of sweet, gooey treats halfway up her attic steps. But now that we are older and have families, my sisters and I do a lot of our own baking, so mom doesn’t need to bake as much. We all answered back with our own, “please bake _____, ____ and ____, or Christmas won’t be the same” list, but the one goodie we all requested was her Forgotten Kisses.

I came across her recipe for Forgotten Kisses the other night and realized that after all these years of baking, I’ve never made them. They only take 15 to 20 minutes to whip up, and the bake time is “forgotten” in the oven so they are perfect to make before you go to bed or before you head out for the day. (They bake with the oven OFF.)

After I made a batch mom’s traditional way, I decided to try them with Andes Mint baking pieces. (You can read about my obsession with Andes Mints in my posts for Andes Mint Cheesecake, Chocolate Island Mint Bars and Brownie Crunch Mint Crispy Bars.) Although I really like the Forgotten Kisses using Andes Mints and my friends at work do too, my taste buds favor the traditional recipe using mini chocolate chips. Must be the sweet holiday memories.

{Forgotten Kisses}

2 egg whites

2/3 cup white sugar

1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar

pinch of salt

1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips OR 1 cup Andes Mint baking pieces

3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts, cashews, etc.)

Preheat oven to 375˚. Beat egg whites until frothy. Add salt and cream of tartar. Beat until stiff peaks form. Add sugar gradually. Beat 10 minutes. Gently fold in chocolate chips OR Andes Mint pieces and chopped nuts. Using two spoons, drop by tablespoons onto greased cookie sheets or cookie sheets lined with parchment paper. Turn oven OFF. Place cookie sheets in oven and close door. Leave in oven overnight.

Forgotten Kisses don’t really spread out or take much of a different shape than how you place them on the cookie sheet. They are best as a smaller treat, about the size of an Oreo or slightly bigger.

What’s one of your favorite family recipes that you haven’t made yet?

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{In Memory of Store-Bought Snickers® Bars}

Gone are the days when you have to run to the store when you’re hungry for a Snickers^®. Eat one of these ooey, gooey chocolate caramel nutty treats and you may never again rip open a candy bar wrapper.

You probably already have most of the ingredients to make these.

The easiest way to cut these into bars is to line your pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper first. (Pay no attention to the apples and bananas hanging out in the background—they really have no business being here.)

Start by shaping your foil over the upside down 9 x 13 pan and then insert it into your pan. Make sure the non-stick side is facing up when you have it inserted in the pan.

For the first layer, melt milk chocolate chips, butterscotch chips and chunky peanut butter together.

When you first pour the melted mixture into the pan, it may seem like it’s not enough.

 But it is just enough to cover the bottom of your pan. Set the pan in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes to cool and set.

 For the second layer, combine the sugar, milk and butter in a small saucepan and boil 5 minutes.

Add the peanut butter, marshmallow cream and vanilla to the boiled mixture. Stir until smooth.

 

Spread the marshmallow cream mixture onto the cooled chocolate layer.

Cover the sticky marshmallow layer with dry roasted peanuts.

Melt the caramels and pour over the peanuts.

Repeat the first layer and spread over the caramel and peanuts. Cool completely.

Cut into small bars.

 

Chocolate, Caramel Nut Candy Bars

2 cups milk chocolate chips, divided

1/2 cup butterscotch chips, divided

3/4 cup chunky peanut butter, divided

1 cup sugar

1/4 cup milk

1/4 cup butter

1-1/2 cups marshmallow cream

1 tsp vanilla

2 cups dry roasted peanuts

1 package caramels

2 Tablespoons hot water

Bottom layer:

Line 9 x 13-inch pan with non-stick foil or parchment paper. In a small saucepan, melt 1 cup milk chocolate chips, 1/4 cup butterscotch chips and 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter together. Spread in pan and cool in refrigerator for 30 minutes.

Second layer:

In saucepan, combine 1 cup sugar, 1/4 cup milk and 1/4 cup butter. Boil 5 minutes. Add 1/4 cup chunky peanut butter, 1-1/2 cups marshmallow cream and 1 tsp vanilla. Stir until smooth. Spread over cooled bottom layer. Sprinkle 2 cups dry roasted peanuts over marshmallow layer.

Third layer:

Melt caramels and 2 tablespoons of hot water together. Drizzle the melted caramel over the peanuts.

Top layer:

Repeat bottom layer and spread over caramel layer. Cool completely. Lift bars out of pan and peel off paper or foil. Cut into bars on a cutting board with a chef’s knife. These are best if stored in the refrigerator.

 

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Do you have a recipe that reminds you of your favorite candy bar?

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