Caramel & Sea Salt Brownies

I swore that I would have bread pics up today. Tomorrow, I promise! Ya see, yesterday was my son's birthday and I spent the day in the kitchen cooking up a Mexican storm and needed a day off because we have so many leftovers and would feel guilty making bread when those tortillas were sitting there saying "eat me". It was my kiddo's request that we have tacos for his birthday and I kicked it up a notch with the following menu:
-shredded lime chicken tacos
-cilantro, cilantro, cilantro, cilantro salsa (I LOOOOOOOOOVE cilantro)
-guacamole
-sweet corn tamale cakes
-refried beans
-all the sour cream, cheese, tomatoes, onions, & lettuce one's heart can desire

He didn't want a cake, he wanted brownies. Easy enough. I felt like a cop-out not baking some multi-color, multi-level Darth Vader birthday cake so I thought I would at least try to get creative with the brownies. I made Caramel & Sea Salt brownies. After the initial, "salt on brownies? Why would you ever think this is a good idea?", everyone had one and there was a resounding thumbs-up.

Caramel & Sea Salt Brownies

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees

5ozs unsweetened chocolate
1 ½ sticks unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 ¾ cups sugar
1 cup flour
1 tsp vanilla
1 ½ tsp of sea salt
¾ cup walnuts (optional)
1/4 cup semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips
1 cup caramel sauce (I was originally thinking I would make this from scratch but pulled a Sandra Lee)

8” square buttered baking dish

Melt unsweetened chocolate and butter in microwave for approximately two minutes. Stir to completely dissolve chocolate. Add sugar and mix until you can’t see granules. Beat eggs and vanilla with a fork, add to chocolate and sugar mixture, and stir until glossy and smooth. Mix in chocolate chips, 1/2 tsp. salt, and walnuts. Stir in flour until everything is mixed evenly together. Pour 1/2 of batter into buttered baking dish. Top this batter with the caramel sauce spread evenly over the entire surface. Pour remaining batter on top and sprinkle with 1 tsp of sea salt. Bake approximately 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out smooth.

Kind of like a turtle brownie with extra salty caramel. I think sweet/salty things are my favorite when it comes to flavor combos. If you have any good suggestions of fantastic sweet/salty recipes, send them my way. Must run, the chocolate covered potato chips are screaming for my attention.