These Basement Brownies, also known as the best chocolate caramel brownies, are a big time favorite on RecipeGirl.com.
Watch the short video showing you how to make these Basement Brownies, then you can scroll down to the bottom to print out the complete recipe and make them yourself!
They’re so easy to make, and there is a great story behind them!
I love a recipe with a good story behind it. My family was recently visiting my brother and sister-in-law in beautiful Colorado. As usual with my snoopy nature, I scoured my sister-in-law Sarah’s personal recipes with hopes of finding some new treasures to try. These Basement Brownies caught my eye!
These Chocolate- Caramel brownies are called Basement Brownies because when Sarah was a little girl… she used to make them for her Dad, who used to sneak these brownies into the basement to hide them so he could have them all for himself.
The name, “Basement Brownies” has stuck! Don’t you love that?!
You’ve gotta love a recipe with only 5 ingredients. Super simple. They start with a boxed mix… which is not usually my style of baking, but these brownies turn out so awesome that you can’t even tell it starts with a box.
And sometimes starting with a boxed mix is just what we need in our busy day-to-day lives! It’s okay to take short-cuts once in a while.
How to Make Basement Brownies:
The caramels are melted with a little bit of evaporated milk to create a caramel sauce. Sarah says that in-a-pinch she has also used jarred caramel sauce in place of melting your own.
The cake mix is simply combined with evaporated milk and butter. A portion of the batter is slightly baked, then topped with chocolate chips and caramel, then topped with more batter and baked again.
The result is not so impressive-looking, right? Just you wait…!!
The inside brownie part is slightly gooey, and there are two layers in there that can put anyone into a delightful sugar coma: one layer of melted chocolate chips and one layer of ooey caramel too.
Oh YEAH. Basement brownies. After a few bites of these, I can completely understand how they got their name.
And here’s the culprit right here. This handsome guy is Sarah’s Dad, the brownie lover who gave these guys their deserved name– brownies-so-good-you’ve-gotta-hide-them-in-the-basement! We understand. Completely.
Thanks, Sarah… for a great recipe!
Here are a few more brownie recipes you might enjoy:
Basement Brownies
Ingredients
- 50 caramels, unwrapped
- One 15.25-ounce box German chocolate cake mix
- 1 cup evaporated milk, divided
- 3/4 cup (1½ sticks) salted butter, melted
- 12 ounces semi sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 9x9-inch pan.
- Melt caramels and 1/3 cup evaporated milk in a medium saucepan over medium-low heat. Stir until caramels have completely melted and the mixture is smooth.
- In a large bowl, combine the dry cake mix, remaining 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter. Mix by hand until batter is smooth and combined.
- Pour a little over 1/2 of the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 8 minutes only and then remove from the oven. Sprinkle chocolate chips evenly on top of the partially cooked brownie. Drizzle caramel on top of the chocolate chips. Drop spoonfuls of the remaining batter on top. You probably won't have enough to cover the caramel completely.
- Return the pan to the oven and bake for an additional 18 to 20 minutes until the brownies feel fairly set on top and the edges are lightly browned and crisp. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting. The longer they have time to cool, the more they will firm up.
Video
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Can they be made with the dulce de leche made by boiling a can of condensed sweetened milk for a few hours? I don’t have any caramels and am stuck in my house waiting for the furnace repairman tomorrow.
haven’t tried it with that product, but maybe!
My son and I tried to double the recipe for Thanksgiving. We used a 11×8 pan and apparently had to thick of a base. It rose like a cake and after some discussion we decided to experiment with it. After baking for about 30 mins we pulled out our “brownie” made some holes and stuffed them with the chocolate chips and sprinkled more on top. My son attacked it with a skewer and we poured the caramel sauce over top. It was a hit at dinner.
Making these right now..using Caramel Ice cream topping tho….Can’t wait to try them later tonight after they set up 🙂
These are baking now. Can’t wait to try them. Definitely do NOT melt caramel in microwave. I spilled it on my foot and had 2nd degree burns.
Has anyone tried this with peanut butter??
I LOVE THE NAME BUT SINCE I LIVE IN NEW ORLEANS AND WE ARE WAYYYYY BELOW SEA LEVEL, NOBODY HAS A BASEMENT IN NEW ORLEANS AREA. HOWEVER I LIKE THE NAME AND KEEP IT I WILL. THEY LOOK DELISH AND I WILL BE TRYING THEM SOON.
THANK YOU AND YOUR SIL.
HONEY
I have made these a few times and have cut the caramels in half and added some nuts to the chocolate mix.. totally delish.. too die for really.. really yummy with ice cream
Has anybody made this with milk chocolate brownie mix or fudge mix stuff? If you haven’t, we’ll do you think it would work?
Haven’t tried- but probably would be fine.
I have made these brownie twice in a week.. They are awesome.. Thanks for the extra 5lbs i gained.. LOL..
Hi, i used a 8×8 pan and they didnt come out like brownies, more like a molten cake. I also had to use the caramel topping used for ice cream, because 5 stores didnt carry caramels! I needed to eat them with a spoon. They were still delicious, but i am wondering could it actually be that the pan was too small or was it the caramel? Any thoughts? Just an FYI, i may make htem again like this and mix with ice cream.
I’d say that the smaller pan created a thicker brownie, and the brownie didn’t have a chance to cook all the way through… resulting in a very gooey brownie!