Chocolate Toffee Caramel Brownies

These brownies REALLY are the best that I have ever had. They remind me of "Fairytale Brownies," which is a company out of Phoenix that I got turned on to when I was working for a home builder and the subcontractors would send us goodies during the holidays. Fairytale Brownies really are the best ever, but these are the closest I have ever had- and you can make them at home! And they don't cost $50/dozen!

Chocolate Toffee Caramel Brownies

Vegetable oil spray or Crisco w/flour for misting the pan
1 pkg (18.25 ounces) plain German chocolate cake mix
12 tbs (1 ½ sticks) butter, at room temp
1 can (5 ounces) evaporated milk
1 bag (11 ounces) caramel balls (these are in the baking section, or you can use real caramels. (42-45 small caramels) unwrapped. Takes time to unwrap over 40 caramels – do this before or while the first layer is baking. (42-45 comes in a 14-ounce bag; a 9 1/4 ounce bag contains about 30).
2 cups semisweet/dark chocolate chips – the bitterness of the semi sweet keeps it from becoming too rich.
1 cup chopped pecans (or walnuts) - I prefer roasted pecans pieces from Trader Joe’s
1 cup of Heath Bar “Bits O Brickle” comes in a bag in the baking section (Safeway) or any toffee bits, or you can chop up 4-5 Heath or Skor bars.  (The Bits of Brickle/plain toffee is my first choice.) 

1. Place oven rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350F. Lightly mist the bottom of a 13 by 9 inch pan with vegetable oil spray or similar. Set the pan aside.

2. Place the cake mix, butter, and 1/3 cup of the evaporated milk in a large mixing bowl. Blend with an electric mixer on low speed for 1 minute. The batter will be thick and well combined. Turn a little more than half of the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing it out with a small metal spreader/frosting knife or rubber spatula. The cake mix tends to stick to the rubber spatula, so do the best you can to spread a thin layer of cake mix over the entire bottom. Place pan in pre-heated oven.

3. Bake the bottom layer until it puffs up but is still soft, 6-8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven, set a side. Leave the oven on.

4. While the first layer is baking, place the caramels in a medium size saucepan with the remaining 1/3-cup evaporated milk. Stir and cook over medium low heat until the caramels melt and the mixture is smooth and thick, 5-6 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and pour the hot caramel mixture over the cake layer. Quickly scatter the chocolate chips evenly on top, and then add heath bar bits. Dollop teaspoonfuls of the remaining cake batter randomly over the chocolate chip and toffee bit layer. Sprinkle the nuts on top of the batter, if desired. Place the pan in the oven.

5. Bake until the batter on top lightly browns and a crust forms around the edges of the pan, 22 – 30 minutes. The brownies should still be a little soft in the center.  You may have to poke the top layers if they get too puffy- they will deflate and continue cooking.  Err on the side of a little more done than you would expect for cookies.  Remove the pan from the oven and place it on a wire rack to cool completely, 30 - 45 minutes. 

6. Cool the brownies for AT LEAST an hour if you can.  (No judgement from me if you just have to dig in... I understand.)  If you can find it in your willpower to wait until Day 2, then they are even better.