Wednesday, August 1, 2012

Organic Salted Caramel Brownie Sundaes



This recipe is layers of organic goodness that will make you say goodbye to refined sugar and sugar substitutes.  Say hello to REAL food!




Ooey Gooey Brownies
  • 2 Sticks Butter (1 Cup) 
  • 2 Cups Raw Sugar 
  • 1 Tbsp Vanilla 
  • 4 Eggs from happy chickens (see below)
  • 1 Cup Organic Flour 
  • 3/4 Cup Organic Cocoa Powder 
  • 1 Heaping Tablespoon of Mayonnaise (just trust me on this mayo thing)
  • 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder 
  • 1/4 Tsp Salt  
  •  1/2 Gallon Organic Vanilla Ice Cream


Preheat your oven to 350°.  Melt the butter in a large mixing bowl and add sugar, vanilla, eggs & mix thoroughly.  A side-note about the eggs.  If you don't see a friendly chicken walking down the street that you can snag some eggs off of, make sure the egg carton says Cage-Free, Non-Hormone, Veggie-Fed.  This supports happy chickens and your body.


Add the flour and cocoa powder to the mix and stir.  Now take out one of your big spoons (you know, the one you eat Captain Crunch with) and throw in a heaping spoonful of mayo.  More stirring.  Last but not least add the baking powder and salt.  Last stir!


Pour into a greased 9x9 baking dish and bake for 40-45 minutes (lick the bowl while you are waiting).  Do not over bake.  Test with a knife before taking it out of the oven.  It should come out mostly clean, but not completely because we are going for ooey gooey here. Cut into pieces when cool.



Salted Caramel Sauce

  • 1 Cup Raw Sugar 
  •  1/2 Cup Water
  • 6 Tbsp Butter 
  • 1/2 Cup Organic Heavy Whipping Cream 
  • Pinch of Kosher Salt


If you've never made caramel sauce at home, after this you will never want to buy the store products again.  Most are loaded with non-food items and chemicals.  The more real food you eat, the more you will taste how terrible chemical laden food is and how DELICOUS food should be. 


While the brownies are baking, make the caramel sauce.  Get all your ingredients ready first because once you get to a certain point you will need to put your sauce together quickly.  Start out using a good sized, thick bottomed pan because it's going to boil up at the end when you add the cream.


First pulverize the sugar a bit in a blender or food processor.  This will help it melt.  On medium/medium-high heat add the sugar and water to your pan.  It's going to take a bit for the sugar to start melting. Keep stirring to prevent burning.  If your sugar seizes up before it melts, just add a bit more water.  Once your sugar melts, stop stirring.  You can gently move it around in the pan, but don't slosh it on yourself or you'll be saying phrases you never thought would come out of your mouth.


At this point you want to let it cook down to a nice amber color, but don't burn it.  The browning is what gives caramel its flavor.  If you don't brown your syrup it will just taste like thick sugar water and not like caramel.


So now your bubbling browned syrup is ready!  Add butter and carefully whisk until the butter is melted. Stop stirring, take it off the heat and count to 5 (if you didn't get your ingredients measured out and ready in the beginning don't count to 5, say one of those phrases and measure out your 1/2 cup of cream).  Slowly pour in the whipped cream and add your pinch of kosher salt to taste.
 

Let it cool in the pan for a bit and then pour it into a glass jar and store refrigerated when you are done with your sundae fiesta.


Caramel Sauce Tip: You want your sauce to be smooth with no crystals in the mix.  This doesn't always happen the first few times you make it (or for me ever) so when you pour it into the jar just pour it through a wire mesh strainer first and WALLAH!  Smoooooooth caramel sauce!  

     
Place a brownie in the bottom of your bowl and top with a scoop of ice cream.  Drizzle caramel sauce over the top. Appreciate your artistic craft for a fraction of a second and dig in! 

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