Sweet and Salty Brownies

These are just as good as I was expecting them to be; that is to say, AMAZING.  Dense and fudgy and, yes, sweet and salty.  Not really so much of a pain in the butt, especially compared to the cake of the same name!, and totally worth it.  Totally totally.  And so pretty, especially with the flakes of sea salt and chunky sugar on top.

Notes: Didn't have a 9x13 so I made it in an 8x8 and an 8x6, which worked out fine but left fewer inside brownies without crusts, and also made the caramel situation a bit more complicated.  A bigger pan is better, that's all I'm sayin'.  Both the caramel and the batter came together pretty easily; assembly was another story.

Listen carefully: don't. overdo.  the. caramel.  It's not worth the trouble.  There will be extra, so just save it an eat it on ice cream or something--is that really such a terrible outcome?  Don't put too much brownie on the bottom layer, you want to make sure to have enough for the top (this trouble was exacerbated by the two pans).  Drizzle the caramel pretty much in the middle, and don't worry about having a solid layer.  Leave a good inch or more at the edges before dropping on the top layer; the caramel will spread out once brownie is on top, and it's really best if there's no caramel touching the edges.  It doesn't burn exactly, but it gets hard and chewy and it's just not what you're looking for.  The batter is thick and doesn't spread easily, so drop it on in small bits, and start at the edges to prevent caramel from spreading too much.

Took me almost an hour to bake these.  Not sure if that's because I'm a moron and I lined the whole pan with parchment paper instead of just the bottom--uh hello doofus--or what, but especially since I used the smaller pans it was very confusing.  Also could have had something to do with the caramel leaking out.  I got 28 3-4 bite brownies out of this, and they're so intense that I wouldn't have wanted them bigger.  And apparently they freeze well, although I wouldn't know.  *wipes mouth*

Despite mishaps and confusion, these are a chocolatey caramely bomb of goodness.  Eat 'em up.

Brownies Ho