Turtle Brownies

Plate is from Home A La Mode (Be sure to see below for a special offer from Home A La Mode!)

The other night, my husband requested some kind of a chocolate dessert.  Then he said, "Mmmmm make those dark chocolate brownies!"  Just a side note, there aren't many things sexier than a man who loves and appreciates chocolate!  ;-)  Unfortunately, I went to my pantry and realized that I was out of powdered sugar to make the icing. :-( Then I started thinking about what else I could top the brownies with and thought, "Duh!  Turtles!" So I got online and found a recipe for caramel topping on cdkitchen.  I couldn't wait for my chewy gooey brownies!  Turns out, they were a huge success.  James and I ate them until we were grossed out with ourselves.  The recipe makes a ton (OK, not a ton...but 3 cups) of caramel so I was able to save some of it and make more turtle brownies for the Bible study that meets at our house.  Trust me on this, you will NOT be disappointed.      

Turtle Brownies

Prep Time: 25 Minutes; Cook Time: 25 Minutes; Ready in 50 minutes; Serves 16

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened dark chocolate cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Topping:

1/2 cup chocolate chips

1/2 cup chopped pecans

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease and flour and 8 inch square pan.
• In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter.  Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.  Spread batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.  Do not overcook.
• While brownies are baking, prepare the caramel topping. (recipe below)
• Pour 1 - 1 1/2 cups of caramel over the brownies.  
• Sprinkle with chocolate chips (I used minis) & chopped pecans.
• Allow to cool about 5-10 minutes and serve!  (A scoop of ice cream wouldn't hurt.) ;-)

Caramel Topping

Cook time <30 minutes Makes 3 cups

2 cups brown sugar
1 cup Karo syrup (It doesn't have high fructose corn syrup any more!)
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

• Combine sugar and syrup. Cook until soft ball stage (220-225°), stirring until it begins to boil. Remove from heat. 
• Add remaining ingredients. Bring to a boil and remove from heat.

Wouldn't these brownies (or anything for that matter) look so cute sitting on this tablecloth?!  What a fun Valentines treat!  Until Sunday, Feb. 6, Home A La Mode is offering 10% off of this tablecloth exclusively to At Home With Haley readers!!!  Could you just scream?!  Just add the tablecloth to your cart and at check out, add the coupon code HALEY10 in the space provided and click on the "apply" button.  Thanks to Home A La Mode for offering such a great deal to my readers.  ♥ 

Linking up at these fun parties:

Making the World Cuter: Making the World Cuter Monday
The Girl Creative: Just Something I Whipped Up

33 Shades of Green: Tasty Tuesdays

Balancing Beauty and Bedlam: Tasty Tuesday

It's a Blog Party: Delicious Dishes 

Giggles, Glitz, & Glam: Glam Party

A Moderate Life: Hearth and Soul Hop

All Thingz Related: Anything Related Tuesday

Creations by Kara: Look What I Made Day

The King's Court IV: What's Cooking Wednesday

Frugal Follies: Frugal Food Thursday

House of Hepworths: Hooking Up With HOH

Suzy's Artsy Craftsy Sitcom: Commercial Break Thursday

Whistlestop Cafe Cooking: Friday's Favorites

ceo a's draiocht: Decidedly Healthy or Horridly Decadent
Sweet as Sugar Cookies: Sweets for Saturday 

Dark Chocolate Brownies

I'm late AGAIN!!!!  *Sigh*

Oh to be one of those who is always on time...or even early!  Some good friends of ours has a daughter who recently got engaged.  The engaged couple live in Florida but just came to Texas for an engagement party/wedding shower.  The photo on the right is a picture of the couple.  Aren't they cute together?!  Anyway, I told her mom that I would help her out with the party.  My plan was to go over to their house a little after lunch to help get the house ready for the party.  Well, my oldest son had a fever and I couldn't go anywhere.  I had to wait until my husband got home from work before I could leave.  Another issue with that was that I couldn't go to the grocery store to get ingredients to take a desert I said I would bring!  I took a look through my recipes and pulled out my trusty brownie recipe that has been my 'go to' recipe lately when I need something quick but don't have time to go to the store.  I originally found the recipe on allrecipes.com.  The bride really liked them and asked that I pass on the recipe to her.  So in honor of the bride... (Sing along.  You know you want to.) Here comes the brownieeeeeeees!  All dark and chocolatyyyyyyyyyyyy! ;-)

This is the word for word recipe as I found it, I will note my changes at the bottom.

Brownies

Prep Time: 25 Minutes; Cook Time: 25 Minutes; Ready in 50 minutes; Serves 16

1/2 cup butter

1 cup white sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

Frosting: 

3 tablespoons butter, softened

3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa

powder

1 tablespoon honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup confectioners' sugar

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).  Grease and flour and 8 inch square pan.
• In a large saucepan, melt 1/2 cup butter.  Remove from heat, and stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla.  Beat in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, salt, and baking powder.  Spread batter into prepared pan.
• Bake in preheated oven for 25-30 minutes.  Do not overcook.
• To make frosting: Combine 3 tablespoons butter, 3 tablespoons cocoa, 1 tablespoon honey, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1 cup confectioners' sugar.  Frost brownies while they are still warm.

My tips for this recipe:

• I use dark chocolate cocoa powder vs. the regular.  (Have I ever mentioned that I dig chocolate?)
• When adding eggs, be sure that your egg whites don't cook in the hot butter.  Ew.  Just keep stirring them so they don't have time to sit.
• Mix your frosting while the brownies are baking so that it will be ready when your brownies are. =)
• In the frosting, I like to use tub margarine vs. butter.  It spreads and melts easier.  
• When adding the confectioners' sugar, don't dump the entire cup at once in your frosting.  Add a little bit at a time so that you don't pour too much sugar in.  Too much sugar will make it impossible to spread.  Trust me...I tried it. :-/   You know you have reached the right consistency when you can no longer drizzle it.
• I also like to add about a 1/2 teaspoon of almond extract to the frosting.  Yummmmm!

This recipe has been Nathan approved!