Cocoa Brownies with Caramel Sauce

My husband loves brownies, probably more than anyone I know. Whenever we go over to his sister's house, he begs one of his nephews to make Ghirardelli brownies, you know the ones in the box? To be frank, I'm not a big fan. The texture is too heavy for me. But I guess the gooeyness is what brownies are all about. My husband loves it! He would always ask me if we could buy those boxes at Costco but I am always shaking my head no. My poor husband... Well, that is why you don't see a lot of brownie recipes on my blog. But I have recently discovered that homemade brownies are way better than the ones from the boxes! I tried this recipe one night and just fell in love with it. It's so simple to make. Also, very simple ingredients. You don't have to mess with melting baking chocolate, etc. It's pretty much like following a brownie box instruction. I really liked the flavor of cocoa in this brownie and the texture was just perfect for me. I've made this a couple times already. I try to make different sauces for topping each time and today, I will share my favorite caramel recipe with you, too. The caramel sauce definitely made these brownies divine. You can make lots of different things using this caramel sauce, too. The pictures didn't turn out too fantastic but for the first time, I will beg you not to judge a book by its cover. :)

Cocoa Brownies with Caramel Sauce

Printable Recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla

2 eggs

2/3 cups flour

1/2 cup baking cocoa

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

Caramel Sauce, recipe follows

Directions:

Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease square pan, 9x9x2 inches.

Beat sugar, butter, vanilla and eggs with a electrical mixer on medium speed. Stir in remaining ingredients except for walnuts. Stir in walnuts.

Spread the batter evenly in the greased pan. Bake 20-25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean when poked in the middle of the brownies. Cool completely. Cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

Pour caramel sauce on top of the brownies. (I poured the caramel sauce before I cut the brownies and that is why the brownies in the pictures look so messy. I tried it again the other day and I poured the sauce after I cut the brownies and it looked neat and nice.)

Caramel Syrup:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons packed brown sugar

1/3 cup corn syrup

2 tbsps stick margarine or butter

1/3 cup whipping (heavy) cream or 1/3 cup whole milk (if you're using milk, use 1 tbsp cornstarch + 1/4 cup water)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Heat brown sugar, corn syrup and butter to boiling in 1 quart saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally. Cook 5-7 minutes, stirring constantly, until thickened; remove from heat. Cool slightly, about 30 minutes. Stir in whipping cream (or whole milk and cornstarch mixture) and vanilla extract.

Sook the Cook