*Photos & post updated on May 21, 2019*

You may have picked up on the fact that I’m a bit of a brownie aficionado by the amount of brownie recipes I’ve posted.

Just a bit. A teeny, tiny bit.

It’s not like I’m obsessed with brownies or anything crazy like that. Psssh, no… I just wouldn’t mind if brownies were made an official food group and if it were then considered acceptable to consume brownies for, say, breakfast and lunch… and maybe dinner too.

That’s not an obsession. That’s just a personal preference, okurrr? 😜🙃

Anywayssss, here’s the first thing you need to know about this salted caramel brownie cups recipe: it’s easy. Like… ridiculously easy.

You can make these almost as quickly as you can make a box mix; I’m talking in the oven in 20 minutes or less. And no need to even pull out the hand or stand mixer!

Oh, and the salted caramel sauce? The salted caramel sauce is pretty amazing straight off the spoon. Not that I would know or anything…

As always, read the recipe before beginning and keep an eye out for the next brownie recipe, cuz let’s be honest… there will be plenty more! 😉

Salted Caramel Brownie Cups

By Michael Johnson

Prep time: 15 mins
Cook time: 20 mins
Total time: 35 mins

Ingredients:

For the Brownie Cups:

• ½ cup unsalted butter, melted

• ½ cup vegetable oil

• 1½ cups sugar

• ½ cup brown sugar

• 4 large eggs

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 1¼ cup all-purpose flour

• 1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

• ¼ teaspoon salt

For the Salted Caramel Sauce:

• ¼ cup water

• 1 cup white granulated sugar

• ⅔ cup heavy whipping cream

• 3 tablespoons unsalted butter, cubed

• 1 teaspoon vanilla

• 1 teaspoon salt (or to taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F.

2. Lightly grease cupcake/muffin baking pan with cooking oil spray; set aside.

3. Whisk the melted butter, oil, and sugars together for about a minute. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat until lighter in color (about 5 minutes).*

4. Sift in the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients with a rubber spatula until JUST combined.*

5. Equally spoon the batter into prepared cupcake pan; (a small or medium cookie scoop works perfectly).

6. Bake for 15-20 minutes.* If testing with a toothpick, the toothpick should come out with a few wet crumbs for fudge-textured brownies.

7. While the brownies are in the oven, prepare the salted caramel sauce.

8. In a heavy bottomed saucepan, heat the water and sugar over medium heat. (Make sure to use a saucepan that’s a little bigger than what you think you will need; the mixture will bubble up!). Stir constantly until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture starts to bubble just a little.

9. Increase the heat to high and bring to a boil, stop stirring completely. Let the mixture continue boiling until it turns an amber color (this could take anywhere from 5-10 minutes; be sure not to let it burn).

10. Remove from the heat and slowly whisk in the heavy cream. The mixture will bubble up A LOT, so make sure to do this very carefully. Then, mix in the butter, vanilla, and salt one at a time.

11. Pour the caramel sauce into a mason jar and allow to cool completely, then cover tightly and store in the refrigerator. (The caramel sauce will thicken up once it’s cooled and refrigerated).

12. Once your brownies have finished cooking, remove the pan from the oven and allow them to cool and set in the pan. Sprinkle some flaky sea salt on top of brownies immediately after removing them from the oven)

13. Drizzle some caramel sauce on top of the brownies & DIG IN!

*Notes:

1. Beat in your eggs for a good 5 or 6 minutes. This step is crucial since there are no leavening agents used in this recipe.
2. Don’t overmix your batter once the flour and cocoa powder are added. It creates air pockets in the batter which will give you cake-like textured brownies. (Unless, of course, you prefer cake-like textured brownies… in which case I’d say stir your little heart out).