Ingredients
1/4 cup butter or margarine
2 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup pecan halves
CARAMEL SAUCE
1/4 cup butter/margarine
1/3 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips
Directions
Preheat oven to 350oF. Lighlt grease an 8" square pan. In small
saucepan, melt 1/4 c butter or margarine and chocolate over low heat.
Set aside. In medium bowl, beat eggs until light. Beat in sugar,
flour, salt and vanilla until blended. Stir in melted chocolate
mixture; pour batter into prepared pan. Bake for 15 minutes.
Meanwhile, prepare Caramel Sauce. In small saucepan, mix butter or
margarine and brown sugar. Bring to boil, stirring constantly. Stir
and simmer 1 minute. Remove brownies from oven and sprinkle evenly
with pecans. Gently pour caramel sauce over brownies. Return pan to
oven and bake 15 minutes longer, until caramel is bubbling.
Remove brownies from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips. As
chocolate chips begin to melt, gently swirl with a knife. Cool
completely before cutting. Chill to harden chocolate, if necessary.
Source: Marian Hoffman, Whitman's Chocolate Cookbook.
Servings: 25 brownies
Chocolate Caramel Brownies Recipe brought to you by Recipe Ideas
Categories: Candy; Chocolate; Cookie; Dessert
The History of Recipes
Recipes as an idea can be tracked back into antiquity, certainly as far into history as the early Egyptians, and possibly even further. Interesting though that maybe, mostly, these ancient recipes were just simple pictorial instructions for meal preparation.
In an interesting twist, the oldest recipe discovered so far, according to academics are some stone tablets in Sumerian which show the preparation of bread which is then used to make a drink, quite possibly a form of beer as it is recorded as having made those who drank it feel `wonderful`. Progressing into Roman times 25BC a man called Apicius compiled a collection of documents describing recipes cooked by wealthy roman citizens. In his scrolls, he recounts how the meals were split into hors d`oeuvres, main course and dessert, a style of dining still practiced today. Aspicius recounts how the ancient cooks were skilled in the use of a good variety of spices and herbs, including some that we all recognise like thyme, mint and dill. Later on, we find some books which date from the fourteenth century : a recipe book entitled `Forme of Cury`, and another named `Curye on Inglish`. Perhaps surprisingly, these books are unconnected to the indian food that is popular today, but rather recipes for the types of food prepared by the cooks of the rich people of those days. Later on in the 1400s, people returning from the crusades brought us a variety of spices and herbs from the Middle-East, including coriander, parsley, basil and rosemary. These new foods and spices caused a torrent in recipe manuscripts, many of which still exist in private collections. For the next few years, the upper classes strove to serve up the most exotic banquets, and as a result the best cooks and their collection of recipes became highly prized. Nevertheless, it wasn`t until the nineteenth century that haute cuisine and recipe collections became really popular. The Famous Mrs Isabella Beeton in the UK, and the equally famous Fannie Farmer in the USA, devoted much of their lives to collecting, testing, and writing down recipes to help cooks of their time. By the advent of the twentieth century, cookbooks were greatly in demand mostly due to increased literacy, more leisure time and disposable income. The introduction of the TV gave us TV chefs and the accompanying recipe books. And that pretty much brings us to the present day and the internet revolution, allowing everyone to access massive numbers of recipes such as those found on this site. |
We hope you enjoy this Chocolate Caramel Brownies recipe.
