Lekker: Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies

I celebrated my 23rd birthday on Thursday September 5th (yay for Virgos!) so it's been a bit of a whirlwind this week. No time to cook! (But I do have some cold-brined pickles that are busy...pickling...in the fridge that I'll write about once I can taste them.)

I always make a dessert to bring to work for my birthday, because, well, it's an excuse for cake! EXCEPT. Last year I was equal parts laughably unprepared and ridiculously over-ambitious to attempt the four layer rainbow cake that I had in mind.

It was OK for a second:

But with no support between the layers, it took about 5 seconds for THIS to happen:

HAH! Fail. And so, the sad cake lived out the rest of its short life in multiple Pyrex containers.

It's not that I can't bake cakes; in fact I've had way more successful cakes than unsuccessful ones so I can't really tell you what I was thinking with this. Drunk, maybe. Good possibility, actually.

(Sidebar: My 19-year-old brother says that "baking cakes" is the term the young people are using to mean "talking" now. Like, you're not actually exclusively dating someone yet but you're not just friends, you're "baking cakes". Is that really a thing? What is it called when you actually start dating? "Roasting chickens"? I am only 23 and now I feel 80. Thank you, Ry.)

Anyway, so this year I decided to do something a little different and stumbled across the idea of Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies on Pinterest. The concept sounded magical to me, combining salty and sweet with fudgy chocolatey goodness. Yes please! Only problem was, the instructions sucked and most commentators couldn't stop moaning about all the problems they were having. So I decided to wing it and figure it out myself, so here we go!

It doesn't really look like the pretzels are there, but they are, I promise!

Salted Caramel Pretzel Brownies
makes about 12 pieces, depending on how big you cut them; they're pretty rich, unlike me

What You Need
1 box "Family Size 13 x 9" fudgy brownie mix (I used Betty Crocker) plus the ingredients to make them according to box directions
1 bag pretzels (I used the square waffle-type ones because I figured they would be easier for cutting and I'm pretty sure I'm right)
2 5.5 ounce bags of Werther's Creamy Caramels 
1 tablespoon half-and-half
Sea salt

What You Do
1. Preheat the oven to the temperature indicated on the box of brownie mix. Prepare the brownies according to directions. Line a square 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan with parchment paper; or, alternatively, you could try simply greasing it well. I opted for parchment paper so I could lift the brownies out of the pan for easier cutting, but it's up to you, I don't think it's a train smash either way.

2. Pour about half of the brownie mix into the bottom of the pan. Then gently place a layer of pretzels on top of that batter. Now do another layer. (The pretzels will get sort of soft during the baking process so it's not like you're chomping straight into a hard, totally crunchy pretzel in the middle of a soft brownie.) Gently pour the rest of the brownie batter on top of the pretzels, smooth it out nicely and toss it in the oven. Follow the baking times listed on the box for your pan size.

3. While those are baking you can start making your caramel sauce. Unwrap all of those individual caramels and throw them in a small pot with the half and half. Over the LOWEST temperature possible, allow them to melt slowly, stirring with a wooden spoon.

 This is about halfway through the melting process. Keep stirring as much as possible to keep the heat even and prevent burning.

You can adjust the amount of half-and-half if it's too thick; you want the consistency to be pourable from the pot but not too runny.

Like this.

4. When the brownies are done, allow them to cool for about 20 minutes before you pour the caramel over top. Wait about a minute or two for the caramel to set (you can wash the caramel pot at this point; TRUST ME you do not want to let it set in the pot or you will absolutely hate your life and everyone in it who allowed you to get to that point of prying enamel/caramel off a pot with a butter knife and possibly stabbing yourself in the process--NOT that I'm speaking from experience...) and then sprinkle the sea salt over top, pressing it down a bit into the caramel. Isn't it so pretty, sparkling on there?! I loved it.

Well you can't really see the sparkling, but it's there!

5. All done! Once it's completely cool you can slice and dice to your heart's content. Run your knife under hot water before you make the slices; it'll help to get through the caramel a bit easier. I could totally see these being served with some vanilla ice cream. They were a hit at the office and successfully glued SOME PEOPLE'S jaws shut, which was a nice change. (Kidding, kidding.)

22 was without a doubt the best year of my life thus far, and my life is generally pretty awesome so that was actually a hard call to make. But it's true, and I can't wait to see what 23 will bring.

Cheers, darlings!