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Homemade Brownie with Caramel Sauce, Hazelnuts, & Fresh Mint

Who doesn’t like homemade brownies with caramel sauce? My mother used to make a version of this brownie recipe when my siblings and I were growing up. It is incredible.
My first memories of cooking were with my mother, when I was little. We would mostly bake things together, as this was her wheelhouse. She still makes better desserts than I do. Whenever I see her and have been away for a while, I usually ask if she can make an apple pie so I can watch her masterfully crank out the pie crusts from scratch.
While sweets weren’t something our family was allowed to purchase from the grocery store growing up, we always had the raw ingredients on hand to make things like cookies or brownies at home. For some reason, this was always allowed, as long as you made the dessert yourself from scratch and shared with everyone.
She would bake these brownies on the lower-end of the suggested time frame, so they would come out of the oven very soft.
This recipe includes toasted hazelnuts and fresh mint to top things off.
If you prefer, you can make all the individual components ahead of time and comfortably serve up dessert at your leisure.
This brownie recipe makes a relatively small batch, and can be scaled up if desired.

Ingredients

For the Brownies:

  • 2 squares of Baker’s unsweetened chocolate
  • 1/3 cup butter
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • ½ tsp baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • ½ cup chopped pecans
  • ½ cup chocolate chips

For the Caramel Sauce:

  • ¼ cup water
  • 1 cup white granulated sugar
  • 7 Tbsp salted butter, softened
  • ½ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the Remaining Brownie Components:

  • ½ cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
  • 6 fresh mint leaves, finely sliced before serving as garnish

Instructions

For the Brownies:

  • Preheat oven to 350F.
  • Melt unsweetened Baker’s brand chocolate with butter in saucepan over very low heat, stirring constantly until smooth.
  • Remove from heat
  • Mix flour, salt and baking powder in a separate bowl.
  • Beat eggs thoroughly in a separate bowl.
  • Gradually beat in white granulated sugar into egg mixture.
  • Blend eggs and white granulated sugar into chocolate mixture and add vanilla extract.
  • Add the dry flour mixture, and stir well.
  • Stir in pecans.
  • Stir in ½ cup chocolate chips.
  • Spread into greased 8x8” square baking pan, and bake at 350˚F for 25 minutes for moist chewy brownies, or 30 minutes for slightly more cake-like brownies.
  • Cool in the pan for 30 minutes, and cut into bars and serve when ready.

For the Caramel Sauce:

  • Mix water and sugar in a small sauce pot with a heavy bottom.
  • Shake gently off the heat until the water and sugar mixture forms an even layer in the bottom of the cold sauce pot.
  • Turn heat to medium and wait patiently until the water and sugar mixture turns the color of honey.
  • This can take about 15-20 minutes. Avoid stirring the sugar and water mixture at this stage.
  • When the sugar has taken on a light golden color, and before it smells burnt, remove pot from heat, and carefully whisk in the softened butter with the sugar mixture.
  • Whisk in the heavy whipping cream and vanilla extract until incorporated.
  • Allow caramel sauce to cool, and reserve for later use.

For the Remaining Brownie Components:

  • Prepare your toasted and chopped hazelnuts and sliced fresh mint garnishes.
  • Serve sliced warm brownies on plates, covered with your desired amount of caramel sauce, toasted hazelnuts, and mint.
  • Enjoy with a cold glass of whole milk.

Notes

If you prefer your brownies without any added nuts, simply omit the pecans in the brownie recipe.
You can also try using less white granulated sugar and dark chocolate chips instead of regular chocolate chips if you prefer a slightly less sweet and more bitter brownie flavor.
If you have made the brownies a few days before serving, try warming them very briefly in the microwave before serving them up.
This dessert would also be wonderful with some vanilla ice cream.