Eat, Read, and Be Mommy

Since my hubby’s birthday was on Saturday this year, I brought his birthday brownies into his work today, and my, they were tasty (if I do say so myself).  He said that something with caramel sounded good but I could do whatever; after looking through a few recipes, I opted for these Caramel Brownies, since the layers were relatively simple.  (I owe my neighbor, though.  It’s spring break and all four of my kids are home, and since there have been some weird sleep patterns going on at my house, he stayed with my kids–both sleeping and awake–while I ran out for a few last minute ingredients.)  I even followed the recipe exactly, foil-lined pan and all!  (I sometimes get lazy about that kind of thing.)  Anyway.  Here are my thoughts…

First of all, these aren’t necessarily cheap, what with the 12 oz of bittersweet chocolate and the heavy cream and bag of caramels.  Secondly, my corner grocery store DID NOT HAVE a 14 oz bag of said caramels, which was wildly frustrating because I technically had one myself–except that the caramels in it expired in 2013 and felt about as hard as a bag of little cubic rocks.  Since the caramels needed melting, I opted to buy two new bags and make use of my kitchen scale; what will happen to the expired bag is anybody’s guess.  Thirdly, the idea of “pouring” the brownie batter out to form the top layer is LAUGHABLE.  The batter sits for at least 20 minutes while the bottom layer bakes, and it has melted chocolate in it.  I ended up forming it into flat pieces with my hands and arranging them on top of the caramel layer.  That did mean that some of the caramel bubbled up over the edges, but since I did line the pan with foil, I didn’t think it was a huge deal.  Which leads us to the question of the day…

Can brownies be too gooey?  That was my husband’s beef with them.  He liked the taste.  And on the one hand, the gooey factor was less than ideal for a treat brought to work to share; on the other hand, though, that doesn’t necessarily mean that too gooey is a BAD thing.  What is your vote?  Your options are ‘yes’, ‘no’, and ‘it depends’–tell me what you think!

And for the record, the best part about them for me had nothing to do with eating them.  I had my oldest unwrap all of the caramels while my middles played, and we both enjoyed some rare one-on-one time.  She is getting older and the littles have been taking a great deal of my time; baking with her was the highlight of my day.