Caramel crunch cornflake brownies

Soft, fudgy brownie base topped with crunchy and sweet cornflakes glued together by the most decadent (and easy!) caramel sauce. A solid 1:1 ratio, this absolutely has to be one of my favourite brownie recipes on the website.

Total time to make : 1 hour + cooling and chilling time Time to prep : 10 minutes

Time to bake : 30 minutes

Servings : 24

Ingredients

Brownie

280g unsalted butter

280g dark (70%) good quality chocolate

420g caster sugar

4 eggs, room temperature

140g plain flour

60g cocoa

1 tsp salt

Cornflake topping

120g unsalted butter

240g light brown sugar

160g golden syrup

1 x 397g can condensed milk

2 tsp vanilla

1 tsp salt

250g cornflakes

Method

1. Preheat a fan oven to 160ºC and lightly grease and line a 13 x 9 inch baking tin with non-stick baking paper.

2. To make the brownie, gently melt the butter and dark chocolate together in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring occasionally to mix. Turn off the heat just before the mixture completely melts together, it will continue melting off the heat.

3. In a mixing bowl, sieve the flour and cocoa powder, then add in the sugar, salt and eggs - one at a time - mix with a wooden spoon or spatula until the eggs are mixed through.

4. Pour the melted but slightly cooled butter/chocolate from the saucepan into the mixing bowl and mix again until just combined. Pour the brownie batter into the prepared tin and bake on the middle shelf for 30 - 35 minutes until the brownie edges have formed a crust and the middle is set (it's good to have a slight wobble, over-baking causes the brownie to be cakey and dry once cooled). Remove from the oven and let the brownie base completely cool before you make and assemble the cornflake topping.

5. For the cornflake topping, put the butter, brown sugar, golden syrup in a large* saucepan and over a low - medium heat, melt together, stirring often. Once it's melted, turn the heat gently up until it begins to simmer, stirring often, then reduce back to a low heat, being careful as this mixture is really hot. Keeping the heat low, pour in the condensed milk, stirring constantly. It's really easy to burn at this stage so keep stirring and don't be tempted to turn the heat higher. After a few minutes, remove from the heat, add in the vanilla and salt and stir through. Pour the sauce in with the cornflakes and use a wooden spoon or spatula to mix everything together until the cornflakes are all covered in the caramel. Tip this mixture onto the cooled brownie base and use the back of a large metal spoon to spread everything out evenly and pressing down to compact the cornflakes

6. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours (or overnight is best!) and use a sharp knife to slice. Cuts into 24 x ~2 inch squares.

Nutritional Information

(per slice)

438 calories

6g protein, 56g carbs, 19g fat

Good to know:

• Save time by using a jarred caramel sauce, just warm it over a low heat, remove from the heat, add in the vanilla and salt* and then add in the cornflakes to mix. If you're using a salted caramel, just don't add in the extra salt.

• This recipe calls for condensed milk. It can be found in the baking isle of the supermarket or by the long-life milk, it's usually by the custard! It's not the same as evaporated milk. Always use full fat and sweetened condensed milk rather than the unsweetened version.

• Make sure the brownie base has cooled completely before adding the cornflake topping, this is so when we pour the cornflakes on top, it doesn't sink through into the hot brownie batter.

• To adapt to an 8 x 8 square tin, just half the ingredients and bake for 20ish minutes.

• Store in an airtight container for up to 5 days.