Sometimes when you’re developing a recipe, you have a very specific image in your head of how you want the finished product to look. This was the case five years ago when I came up with my original Salted Caramel Brownie recipe. I had the most insanely, frustratingly specific idea of how I wanted them to look. I wanted two fudgy, dark chocolate brownie layers with a layer of thick salted caramel in the middle. It couldn’t be pockets of caramel or a faint ribbon of caramel – it had to be a distinct, gorgeous, continuous copper layer of caramel.
No joke, I drove myself crazy trying to accomplish this. Every time I pulled the brownies out of the oven, I’d get my hopes up thinking maybe this adjustment fixed it. But, more often than not, the caramel layer would bake into the brownies and all I’d be left with is the faintest caramel remnant. I was just about to give up, when a seemingly crazy idea popped into my head. What if I created a frozen layer of salted caramel??? This would give the brownies enough time to bake and because the caramel was frozen it wouldn’t immediately dissolve into the brownie layers.
It was my only idea left, so I gave it a shot. I made my salted caramel, carefully poured it onto a small sheet pan, spread it into a thin, even rectangle…….and then shoved it in the freezer and hoped for the best. When it came time to make the brownies, I poured half the brownie batter in the pan then placed the frozen caramel layer on top and then carefully spread the remaining brownie batter on top of that. The baked brownies didn’t look that much different from the outside, so I didn’t know if my idea had worked. But when I cut into them, there it was…….a gorgeous layer of caramel smack dab between the two brownie layers. It was perfect.
The OG Salted Caramel Brownies
These Salted Tahini Caramel Brownies are a fresh update on my original recipe. It’s the same brownie base, but with Salted Tahini Caramel in the middle and some halvah folded in for good measure. I’m on a massive tahini kick lately (not even kidding……I’ve got another tahini recipe coming your way soon) and this seemed like a natural way to give one of my old recipes a more modern taste. These brownies are crazy rich and decadent, so a little goes a long way. And they definitely require a little more forethought than your average brownie since you have to make the caramel layer and freeze it ahead of time. Buuuut they are totally worth it!
