dillymug 
Gosh it’s been a long time since I managed to post a recipe on here. In my defence being a twin mummy keeps me busy. I’m also only in work 2 days a week now which means my audience for my bakes has been drastically reduced. Last weekend we were having a gathering of our NCT group to belatedly celebrate our babies’ first birthdays. I had seen this Sainsbury’s Magazine recipe a while ago, thought they looked amazing and promptly bought all the ingredients and then left them in the cupboard gathering dust for a good few months. So I decided our gathering was the perfect opportunity to put that right and give this recipe a go.
Easter is fast approaching and these brownies would be an impressive bake should you be entertaining or want to indulge. They were very well received by everyone and although very rich are definitely worth the calories! You get pockets of gooey salted caramel and then crunchy bits of honeycomb all combined with rich brownie which is a delicious combination. You do need to be prepared in advance as you need to chill your salted caramel for at least 2 hours (and overnight is best). I added 15 minutes on to the suggested baking time as I found the mixture was very wobbly when I took it out of the oven. With hindsight I wish I hadn’t left it in for quite so long as I found the edges were a little overdone. You’ll need a 20cm square baking tin. The finished brownies can be kept in the fridge for 1 day before the Crunchie topping starts to soften. Without the topping, they keep for up to 4 days in the fridge, or can be frozen for up to 1 month.
Ingredients:
1 x 260g jar of salted caramel sauce (I used Waitrose’s but it’s also available at Sainsbury’s)
150g unsalted butter (plus extra for greasing)
200g golden caster sugar
100g golden syrup
250g dark chocolate (roughly chopped)
4 medium eggs (beaten)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
100g plain flour
4 x 32g Crunchie bars (cut into large shards)
Method:
1) Before starting, ensure you have chilled your salted caramel for a minimum of 2 hours, but preferably overnight. This is so that the caramel stays firm and doesn’t dissolve into the brownie when baking.
2) Preheat your oven to 170°C/Fan 150°C/Gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm square baking tin.
3) Put the butter, caster sugar and syrup in a heavy-based saucepan and place over a medium-low heat. Stir the mixture until it’s smooth and the sugar has almost melted. Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth. Pour into a bowl and cool for 20 minutes until lukewarm.
4) Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, mix in the eggs and vanilla. Then sift in the flour and a pinch of salt, and fold through until just combined.
5) Pour half of the mixture into the tin and use a tablespoon to dollop over 16 equally sized spoonfuls of the salted caramel. Sprinkle on the shards of 2 Crunchie bars, then pour the remaining brownie mixture over the top to cover.
6) Bake for 40-45 minutes. The brownie will still have a wobble to it, but will set during cooling. Sprinkle over the remaining Crunchie shards if using and press in very lightly.
7) Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then transfer to the fridge for 2 hours to set before slicing.
Yummy!