Bacon & Caramel Brownies

Happy Valentine's Day everyone! 

I've come a long way from making the umpteenth rose bouquet of the day on Valentine's Day spending the entire day and the week or so leading up to it working countless hours in the shop to getting ready to prepare lobster ravioli for myself and my husband of 3 years. I still can't even believe we've been married three years and that this is our fourth married Valentine's Day! 

In honor of the day I decided to pair two of my husband's favorite things...bacon and chocolate. I decided to do this in brownie form and put it over the top by stirring in some caramel. This brownie was perfect, salty, sweet, decadent and definitely not for the faint of heart. I did cheat a little bit and used box brownie mix (though I hardly think Ghiardelli brownie mix is cheating!)

I decided to keep this recipe simple, because sometimes for desserts you just don't need to fancy it up and go crazy. I'd even go as far as to say you don't even need the caramel but why not right?

Bacon & Caramel Brownies

Yield: 1 dozen brownies

Prep Time: 15 minutes     I     Bake Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 box of your favorite boxed brownie mix prepared according to the directions
• 15 soft caramels 
• 1/8 cup heavy cream
• 6 strips center cut bacon cooked until crispy and then cooled

Melt the caramels in a small sauce pan with the heavy cream stirring until they combine and you get a nice thick caramel.

Break up the bacon and stir into the brownie batter and pour the batter into a greased 8x8 pan. Pour the caramel over the brownies while using a knife to swirl it into the batter. 

Bake the brownies for approximately 40 minutes or until they become slightly firm. Let the brownies cool in the pan before removing them from the pan.