Thick and fudgy brownies flavored with salted caramel and bacon bits. If you like sweet and salty and chocolate, definitely give these a try.
So those amazing delicious fudgy salted caramel brownies (also known as Baked Explorations’ Sweet and Salty Brownies) didn’t last long. With the kids away, I might have eaten most of them..
And even as I was eating that last batch, I immediately knew what I wanted to make next: a bacon version. The idea comes courtesy of my fellow SD blogger, Three Dog Kitchen. Her version is even better than the ones I had time to make because she studded her brownies with cocoa bacon. I definitely want to try that next time, but I simply didn’t have enough time with these.
Instead, I chopped up some bacon and mixed it into the salted caramel sauce from the Sweet and Salty brownies. I saved a little of the salted caramel sauce so I had enough to just barely coat some remaining chopped bacon that I sprinkled on top after the brownies were done.
I loved the addition of bacon bits in these brownies. Which begs the question, is there anything bacon doesn’t go with?
Bacon Caramel Brownies
Ingredients
For the Salted Caramel Filling
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup water
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
- 1 tsp Fleur de Sel
- 1/4 cup sour cream
- 4 strips of cooked bacon chopped finely
For the Brownies
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 tsp salt
- 2 tbsp dark unsweetened cocoa powder
- 11 oz quality dark chocolate 60 to 72%, coarsely chopped
- 1 cup unsalted butter cut into 1-inch cubes
- 1 1/2 cups sugar
- 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 5 large eggs at room temperature
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
- For the caramel filling, combine the sugar and corn syrup with 1/4 cup of water in a medium saucepan, stirring carefully so as not to splash the sides of the pan. Cook over high heat until an instant-read thermometer reads 350°F or until the mixture is dark amber in color, 6 to 8 minutes.
- Remove from the heat, and slowly add the cream, and then the Fleur de Sel. Whisk in the sour cream and half of the chopped bacon and set aside to cool. (Watch carefully over the stove as soon as the mixture starts turning golden brown because it will burn easily if you let it cook too high and too long. Also be sure to add the cream as soon as you remove from heat. I waited a few extra minutes and the caramel completely solidified and I had to start over.)
- For the brownie, preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal 9 x 13 inch pan. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment paper, and butter the parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder.
- Place the chocolate and butter in the bowl of the double boiler set over a pan of simmering water, and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler, and add both sugars. Whisk until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be at room temperature at this point.
- Add three eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining two eggs and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage, or your brownies will be cakey.
- Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate. Using a spatula, fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until there is a just a trace amount of the flour mixture visible.
- To assemble the brownies, pour half of the brownie mixture into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Drizzle about 3/4 cup of the caramel sauce over the brownie layer in a zigzag pattern, taking care to make sure the caramel does not come in contact with the edges of the pan or it will burn. Make sure you have about 1-2 tsp left of caramel sauce for later. Use your offset spatula to spread the caramel evenly across the brownie layer. In heaping spoonfuls, scoop the rest of the brownie batter over the caramel layer. Smooth the brownie batter gently to cover the caramel layer.
- Bake the brownies for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
- Remove the brownies from the oven. Lightly coat the remaining bacon in about 1-2 teaspoon of the remaining salted caramel. Then sprinkle on top of each brownie.
- Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.
Notes
The nutrition information provided are only estimates based on an online nutritional calculator. I am not a certified nutritionist. Please consult a professional nutritionist or doctor for accurate information and any dietary restrictions and concerns you may have.
I have made brownies with BACON and it is awesome. My question to you is why so many eggs???????????
I’m really not sure as this was not a recipe I created.
Love the idea. I love to eat steam chocolate cake with chicken curry! A weird combination, but it’s fabulous! I kid you not. (: since you love to explore, why not give it a try! 😀
Interesting…I will have to experiment and try sometime
Just wondering – what kind of cooked bacon? (oven, fried?) and how much, like, barely cooked, medium or crispy?
Seems like an awesome recipe though, even though it feels like an odd combination so it will be very fun to test it.
You want fully cooked bacon for this recipe. I would say fully cooked, but not yet crispy because it will cook more in the oven. As for method of cooking, it doesnt really matter as long as it gets cooked. I usually use precooked bacon from Costco. I would probably say it’s faster to fry the bacon than to cook it in the oven.
I suck at making brownies but recently had a bit of success. I’ve always wondered about these…So tempted!
Oh you should definitely try these out! So moist, fudgy, chocolatey. I’m sure your brownie making skills are fine! You probably just had some bad recipes. I’ve had quite a few I don’t like.
I’m glad you liked the brownies with bacon – bacon really does make things better! I don’t know why, but the Baked brownies are just begging to have things piled on top of them. Mmm..
I had this chocolate covered bacon at the fair before and was not a fan. But I loved the bacon in these brownies, maybe because it’s chopped up into small pieces.