Rich and Delicious Dark Chocolate Homemade Brownie, baked into a tart and studded with salted caramel shards.
Our family is lucky to celebrate many birthdays during the month of October, which means a lot of cake in a short stretch. Sometimes you want to celebrate with something that isn’t cake – enter this brownie tart. It hits all the satisfying notes of brownies but in a cake shape that makes it feel festive. It’s special enough to stand out in any pan, so adjust for what you have on hand. To be quite honest, I personally would prefer this to pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving.
This recipe includes a salted caramel candy that you stick into the batter before baking, and it requires cooling time, so if you want to use this part, plan ahead. It’s simple to make, but slightly time consuming for cook time (15 mins) and cooling time (20 mins). You could omit this step and the brownies will be delicious too.
This recipe is based on Tieghan Girard’s Caramel Mocha Nutella Brownies, with some tweaks I felt balanced things a bit. Her recipe can be found here – it’s amazing too! https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/caramel-mocha-nutella-brownies/#wprm-recipe-container-112818
Chocolate Brownie Tart with Salted Caramel Segments
Equipment
- Tart pan.
Ingredients
Homemade Caramel Slab
- 2/3 cup sugar
- 4 Tbsp salted butter
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- malden sea salt for sprinkling on top
Brownies
- 12 Tbsp salted butter
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 Tbsp instant coffee granules optional
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 3 large eggs
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder I use Hershey's
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
Instructions
Homemade Caramel Slab
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and make room for it in the freezer if possible, or at least the refrigerator. The Caramel will need to fully cool before you make the brownies.
- In a large saucepan, cook the sugar over medium heat, watching carefully not to burn or cook too quickly. The sugar will slowly turn into a caramel color over the course of about 7-8 minutes, with frequent stirring to prevent hot spots. When you have reached the desired color, add the butter, melt completely, and then stir in the cream, continuing to cook over medium heat for several more minutes. You want the caramel to hit a consistency where it coats the back of a wooden spoon - about 4 minutes more.
- Off the heat, pour the hot caramel (CAREFULLY!) onto the parchment paper on the baking sheet, and sprinkle with flaked sea salt if desired. Transfer it to cool in the freezer for about 20 minutes.
- When completely cooled, break the caramel into small shards to literally stick into the brownie batter right before cooking. You will have some leftover - this is great for snacking!
Brownies
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- If using a tart pan, grease liberally. If using a brownie pan or regular baking pan, line with parchment paper and grease as well.
- In a large glass bowl, melt the 12 Tbsp butter and 1 cup of the chocolate chips, reserving 1/2 cup to stir into the batter. Heat for 1 minute, then stir and continue to cook at 20 second intervals until you hit a smooth melted consistency - this happens quickly, so don't burn the chocolate. When it's melted, stir in the sugar, vanilla, and the coffee granules.
- In a small bowl, whisk the three eggs until whipped and fluffy (this will help the brownies with a crinkle top crust), and fold into the batter. Combine the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt) and stir gently into the batter until well mixed. Fold in the remaining chocolate chips, and pour the batter into the prepared pan. Stick shards of the broken caramel into the dough, as desired, then bake in the preheated oven for about 25- 30 minutes (time will vary based on pan size).
- I like to serve these in wedges with vanilla ice cream on top - they are incredibly rich, and best served warm.
Notes
