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.
I received this recipe back in the early 70’s. My children loved them then and still love them.
Fun!
I love these! We’ve been making these for years. We call them “Knock-ya-naked” brownies. 🙂
Hello,
I’m sorry for asking this..i’m just wondering if you can tell what is ‘evaporated milk’..
In my country I never heard of it ,and I want to bake this recipe ..it looks delicious and I bet is tasty too 🙂
Thank you!
If you don’t have any, make your own: To produce 1 cup of evaporated milk, simmer 2 1/4 cups of regular milk down until it becomes 1 cup. In many recipes, evaporated milk may also be replaced with a combination of whole milk and half-and-half.
Do you think I could substitute white chocolate chips for the chocolate chips? Not a fan of so much chocolate.
I haven’t tried white chocolate chips in this recipe, but I find that they don’t melt the same so I’m not sure I’d recommend them.
Could you add fleur de self to make salted caramel?
maybe!
I make a similar recipe using the caramel chips, or the kraft caramel sheets used for caramel apples that can be purchased in the produce section at Krogers, or Wal-Mart. I get the caramel sheets cold in the refrigerator first, make the brownie as directed in your recipe, put about half of it in a 9×13 pan, break or cut the caramel sheets and fit them over the brownie mix, sprinkle with nuts, and top with the rest of the brownie mix. Bake as directed above! We like them chilled.
The recipe I received YEARS ago calls these brownies MONSTER BROWNIES. My #1 request at holidays. Delicious, but not easy to make. The batter is VERY sticky!
Interesting. Not sure if it’s the same recipe since these were super simple to make!
Hi May I know the weight of a stick of butter that you use? Over in my country the butter is sold in blocks ranging from 227g – 250g.
1 stick of butter (1/2 cup) = 4 ounces
Can they be made with brownie mix instead as I live over seas & do not have this type of cake mix or can they be made with a homemade cake mix ??
I’m not sure… I haven’t tried it other ways. Maybe a brownie mix, but I can’t say for sure since I haven’t tried it myself.
I’ve made this for 20 years now and it’s always a hit and a family favorite.
We had an ice day today and so I made it this afternoon. Oh so yummy!