Ghirardelli Chocolate Bar Brownie Recipe

Mother’s Day is approaching, so naturally I’m thinking of gifts I can get for my mom. But for me, it can be hard to get a gift that even comes close to showing my appreciation for how much my mom has done throughout my life.If we’re lucky, we grew up with moms who created warm and welcoming homes for us kids. Filled it with love and laughter. Kindness and strength.

My mom was a pillar of strength. As a single mom, she worked full-time so that my sister and I could have a great life; so we could do dance class on Monday, acting on Tuesday and Thursday, basketball in the winter, and softball in the spring. So that we could get those sparkly jeans from Limited Too and as much gimp as we could braid.And after a full day of work, she’d come home and cook a homemade meal for us. Followed, almost every night, by cookies or brownies.

My mom created a warm and welcoming home in many ways, but one of those was by having brownies and cookies on repeat. Something was always coming out of our oven, and 9 times out of 10 it was some sort of baked good. It was her way of quelling her insatiable hunger for dessert, and for my sister and me, it meant love, care, and sweetness.

Review: Professional Baker Finds Best Boxed Brownie Mix + Photos

So for Mother’s Day this year, one of my gifts will be a batch of these caramel brownies, topped with Ghirardelli Chocolate SQUARES. These cocoa brownies are fudgy and rich, just like how my mom used to make them, but I’m adding my special touch by topping with Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Caramel & Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramel filled SQUARES.

With over 160 years of chocolate-making experience, Ghirardelli has established its position as America’s premium chocolate company. They control all steps in the chocolate-making process to ensure every SQUARE is the highest quality, which is especially important when creating an edible gift such as these cocoa brownies.

The smooth melting chocolate and luscious caramel filling in itself is like a present. I also love indulging in these SQUARES after a long day or simply on their own. They make life a bite better 🙂

Fudgy Brownies {homemade Like Boxed Mix}

Break up any clumps of brown sugar— Brown sugar has a tendency to clump up as it sits in your pantry. If you notice any sugar clumps in your brownie batter, squish them with your fingers or the back of a fork. You don’t want to chomp down on a piece of pure sugar when enjoying these caramel brownies!

Slightly under bake the brownies — For the fudgiest possible brownies, you should slightly under bake these babies. You’ll know when these caramel brownies are ready to be taken out when a knife inserted into the middle of the pan comes out mostly clean.

Wait a few minutes before adding the SQUARES— The trick to getting the Ghirardelli SQUARES to stick to the brownies without melting too much is to let the brownies cool for 15 minutes first. This way, the brownies are still warm enough to melt the chocolate slightly without being so hot that they melt the chocolate completely.

Ghirardelli Classic Brownies

I hope these caramel brownies will remind her of how much she did for my sister and me, and how much her baking meant to us. And mom, since I know you’re reading this, sorry in advance your Mother’s Day gift is no longer a surprise. I love you!

A luxurious cocoa brownie topped with caramel-filled chocolate makes for a perfect treat any day of the week. Comes together in less than an hour!

This post is sponsored by Ghirardelli. All text and opinions are 100% my own. Thank you for continuing to support the brands who help make Broma possible!I’ve been in Texas since December 24th, and in terms of weather, it’s been absolutely blissful. Not even the teensiest threat of snow, I tell you! But of course, in true Murphy’s Law fashion, the northeast has had hardly a winter at all, with only one real sticking snowfall so far.

Ghirardelli Brownie Mix (+ Homemade Brownie Mix Recipe)

But you know, no amount of great weather can make up for the distance between The Brit and me. He’s been flying back and forth whenever he can, but we haven’t been apart this long since our dating days when we saw each other a week at a time every 3 months!

I’m in Texas because of a surgery that required extensive recovery. James and I have no family up in New Jersey, so it seemed the safest course to choose a surgeon and a hospital near my family to help with my recovery. Especially since my sister is a nurse – and let me tell you, she has been a Godsend. I am SO grateful she is my sister.

Not a day goes by that I don’t think this was the right choice, but it doesn’t help the misery of missing my Brit, and my cats, and my house.

One Bowl Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

This will be the first Valentine’s Day we’ve spent apart in a very long time. I don’t know about y’all, but I think he would murderise me if I sent a bouquet of flowers or somethin’ to his office. Guys seem to be a little sensitive about mushy stuff like that. So instead, I baked.

Not only did I bake, I took inspiration from my favorite British blogger, Kathryn at London Bakes. A while back, she made these gorgeous “Celebrations Brownies“.

Celebrations are made by the Mars company in the UK, and feature all your favorites Mars chocolate bars in bite-size portions: Milky Way, Snickers, Mars Bars, etc, plus a few that aren’t made here in the U.S., like Bounty, Tropic, and Malteasers. Little known fact: If you find yourself craving a Milky Way bar whilst in the U.K., make sure you purchase a Mars bar instead. In the UK, the names are swapped!.

Boyfriend Brownies (chocolate Chip Brownies)

Celebrations are kind of hard to get hold of when you haven’t been cleared to drive yet, so instead, I took my inspiration from the display of Valentine’s Day themed Ghirardelli Squares on display at Target during a sister-approved jail break.

I’m a bit particular of the flavors that mix in my brownies, so I chose the Ghirardelli Caramel Trio with milk chocolate caramel, dark chocolate caramel, and caramel latte squares and the Luxe Milk Premium Assortment featuring milk almond, milk hazelnut and milk chocolate squares.

Kathryn’s recipe is super fudgey to start with, and the addition of the caramel and nut chocolates makes each bite different and more decadent than the last.

Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark Brownies Recipe

You may want to make two pans, just so you don’t have to share. It may be Valentine’s Day, but I swear, there’ve already been a couple of raised voices in my sister’s house over who gets a brownie and when.

I’m not naming names, but a certain 5 year old boy may have gotten in trouble more than once for asking every 20 minutes or so whether or not he could have a brownie – starting at 8:05 a.m.!

In a medium glass bowl, place butter and chocolate chips. Melt in the microwave for about 1 minute (mine took 1 minute and 10 seconds), until butter is completely melted, and when stirred, the chocolate chips melt completely into the butter.

Double Chocolate Brownies

Stir gently for 1 to 2 minutes or until chocolate and butter completely combine, and there are no lumps of chocolate chips. If you find that there are, microwave at 10 second intervals and stir after each until the lumps are gone.

Add brown sugar to the butter-chocolate mixture and whisk together, making sure the sugar is completely mixed in and there are no clumps throughout.

In a separate bowl or cup, whisk eggs and vanilla extract together with a fork, then add to the chocolate mixture. Stir to combine, making sure eggs are completely incorporated.

Ghirardelli Brownie Mix, Triple Chocolate, 7.5 Lb

Pour wet mixture into dry, and fold gently with a rubber spatula until flour seems to be mostly incorporated. Do not overmix.

Pour half the brownie mixture into an 8×8 square baking pan (I used metal, glass is okay too) sprayed with cooking spray, or greased with butter and sprinkled a little flour or cocoa powder.

Unwrap as many Ghirardelli squares as it takes to place them roughly side by side on top of the brownie batter in the pan. I left a little space between each one, maybe 1/4″ inch. I had 2 bags of Ghirardelli Squares, and was able to make 2 batches of these brownies with 4 squares to spare for snacking.

Easy Better Than Box Mix Brownies!

Try to be as random as possible in your Square placement, so that each bite is a little different from the next. That’s part of the fun!

Once the batter has been covered by squares evenly, pour the rest of the batter over the squares and spread to cover completely using a rubber spatula.

Bake for 20-22 minutes or until the top looks set and the brownies are a little (to use Kathryn’s words) squidgy when touched.

Ghirardelli Ultra Dark Chocolate Brownies

Ghirardelli stuffed brownies are amazing after they cool, but the flavors really develop the next day, so make them one day ahead if you can.

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