Simple chocolate caramel with espresso blondies recipe

I recently made chocolate caramel and was looking for interesting ways to use it.  I often make caramel brownies and wondered how chocolate caramel swirled into blondies would taste.  I can tell you, they're pretty good.

The caramel was made with chocolate flavored Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk.  It is currently only available during the holidays so if you like this, you may want to buy several cans to have on hand.  Here's my recipe for the chocolate caramel Easy chocolate caramel.

These blondies are rich and gooey and have a nice espresso flavor in the background to cut the sweetness of the blondie.  I'll be making these a lot over the holiday season.

Chocolate Espresso Caramel Blondies

Makes 16  

·       ½ cup unsalted butter

·       ¾ cup + 2 tbsp packed light brown sugar

·       1 egg

·       ⅛ tsp salt

·       2 tsp vanilla

·       2 ½ tsp instant espresso powder

·       1 cup all-purpose flour

·       ¾ cup coarsely chopped walnuts

·       4 oz chocolate caramel, melted 

1.     Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

2.     Line an 8" square baking pan with foil and give it a good coating of nonstick cooking spray.

3.     Place butter in a medium sized microwave safe bowl and melt the butter in the microwave.

4.     Stir in the brown sugar until sugar is completely dissolved, then stir in egg.

5.     Add the salt, vanilla, and espresso powder and mix well.

6.     Stir in the flour then fold in the nuts. 

7.     Pour the batter into the prepared pan.  The batter will be very thick. Dollop the melted caramel on top of the batter, then swirl the melted chocolate caramel into the mixture. 

8.     Bake for 18-25 minutes, until lightly golden brown. 

 

Note that this recipe was developed for high altitude.  While the ingredients will not change, baking time may vary at low altitude.