Holiday Goodies: Killer Brownies

Today is National Brownie Day, so I am posting a couple of awesome brownie recipes. I have never met a brownie I didn't like. Hope you like these.

Killer Chocolate Brownies
4 ounces unsweetened baking chocolate
1 ounce semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks or 8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 Tbsp vanilla extract
2 cups chocolate chips or nuts (or 1 cup of each)

Preheat oven to 350f. Spray a 9x13 pan with cooking spray.

In a heavy bottomed saucepan melt the unsweetened chocolate and the semi sweet chocolate with the butter. Stir until smooth. Mix in the sugar, then stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg. Mix in the vanilla and salt. Add the flour and mix until just incorporated, add the nuts/chocolate chips and mix until just blended. Spread evenly into prepared pan. Bake at 350 for 20 to 25 minutes, until the top has a nice crust. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars.

Turtle Brownies
14 oz caramels
1 box chocolate cake mix
1 cup chopped pecans
2/3 cup evaporated milk, divided
¾ cup butter, melted
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350. Spray bottom of a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. Combine cake mix with nuts, 1/3 cup evaporated milk and melted butter; stir briefly. Press half of the mixture in the bottom of the prepared baking pan. Bake at 350 for 6 minutes.
While crust is baking, melt caramels with 1/3 cup evaporated milk over low heat, stirring until smooth.

Remove crust from oven. Sprinkle with chocolate chips. Spread caramel mixture over chips. Crumble remaining crust mixture over top. Bake at 350 for 15 – 18 minutes. Cool.

Refrigerate to set caramel if necessary. Cut into bars.