Caramel Brownies

The students at one of my previous schools liked to call these “Speech Contest Brownies,” as I always brought them to the final round of the spring speech contest so that the finalists would have something to look forward to after they performed.

The recipe came from a guy who was in a class I was taking years ago. He brought these several times, and people begged him for the recipe. Here it is with a few of my personal hints for optimal enjoyment.

Caramel Brownies

Ingredients:
1 ½ sticks margarine, melted
1 German chocolate cake mix with pudding
1 small can of evaporated milk
1 package of caramels (like the Kraft kind pictured below)
1 12-oz. package of chocolate chips

Unwrap all the caramels and put them in a small microwave-safe bowl. Then preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt the margarine in a microwave-safe bowl. Then add the cake mix and 1/3 cup evaporated milk (that’s about half of the small can). Spread ½ mixture in bottom of an ungreased 9 x 13 pan. You will have a very thin layer of batter, and you may want to use a buttered spatula to help spread it out.

Bake at 350 degrees for six minutes. Meanwhile, melt caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk (the other half of the small can).

After the six minutes are up, take the pan out of the oven and spread the chocolate chips over the cake. Then drizzle the melted caramel mixture on tops of this. Finally, drop the rest of the cake mixture by teaspoonfuls on top.

Bake another 15-18 minutes at 350 degrees. Let cool completely before attempting to cut them. I find it helpful to refrigerate them or even throw them in the freezer for 15 minutes before cutting them. That way the caramel mixture has a chance to solidify and they won’t be quite as messy to cut.