Salted Caramel Brownies

Salted Caramel Brownies are moist and fudgy brownies with a caramel swirl and topped with more chocolate, caramel, and sea salt. If you just want a perfect pan of brownies, be sure to try my best brownies recipe!

Salted Caramel Brownies

It starts with fudgy brownies in this recipe, which is where my brownie mix comes in. It’s the same base I used for my Salted Caramel Brownie Marshmallow Hi-Hat treat. I love chocolate-covered caramels with sea salt, so that got me thinking.  What if I paired the same thing with one of my favorite desserts, the brownie? Well, it’s what I expected…glorious!

Brownies Ingredients

There are three parts to this recipe–brownies, caramel swirl, and toppings.

Brownies: As I stated, the brownies are made from my brownie mix. You can make this up ahead of time by just mixing together the dry ingredients and putting them in an airtight container. I love to hand this out for gifts, too! 

Caramel: You will need a cup of caramel bits for this recipe, or 5 1/2 ounces if using other sized caramels. The caramel will be melted with heavy cream. Most will be used as the swirl in the brownies, with a little bit reserved for the topping.

Heavy Cream: Heavy cream is at least 30% fat (as opposed to half and half, which is only 10-18% fat).

Chocolate Chips: Yes, I even added more chocolate to the brownies. I used semi-sweet chocolate chips.

Salt: To give this dessert a salted caramel flavor, don’t forget to sprinkle some flaky sea salt over the chocolate and caramel. You could also use other coarse ground salts like kosher salt or Himalayan pink sea salt.

Brownie Base

Brownies are not hard to make; you mix the dry stuff with the wet stuff and bake. To make Salted Caramel Brownies start with the brownie base. In a medium bowl, beat the eggs and vanilla together. Once combined, add in the dry ingredients (sugar, cocoa powder, flour, salt, and baking soda).  Pour in the melted butter and mix it until the butter is fully incorporated.  Pour the batter into an 8-inch square baking dish and spread it out evenly in the pan. 

How to Make Salted Caramel Brownies

Once the brownie batter is in the pan, melt the caramel bits with the heavy cream in the microwave. After the caramel is melted, reserve 1-2 tablespoons to use as the topping. Pour the rest of the caramel over the pan of brownie batter. Use a knife to swirl the caramel into the batter.

Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes, or until an inserted toothpick comes out with a few crumbs, but no wet batter. When you remove the brownies from the oven, top with the chocolate chips. Let the chocolate sit on the brownies for a minute or two to melt a bit.

Then, spread the chocolate on top of the brownies. Finally, top the brownies with the reserved caramel and sea salt. If the caramel has hardened, simply pop it back into the microwave to melt it again.