Salted caramel Crunchie brownies

_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ To make the caramel sauce:

Put the sugar in a heavy-based pan with 100ml water.
Gently heat until melted, then bubble – swirling the pan, but not stirring – until the mixture turns a rich caramel colour.
Remove the pan from the heat, and add the butter
Whisk in the cream until combined. Stir in the salt flakes, if you want to make this a salted caramel sauce. Pour into a heatproof container and chill until needed.

To make the brownies:

Make double the quantity of the caramel sauce, then chill overnight. You need the caramel to be firm, otherwise it will dissolve into the brownie while baking.
Preheat the oven to 170°C/150°C fan/gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm square cake tin. Put the butter, caster sugar and syrup in a heavy-based saucepan and place over a medium-low heat. Stir the mixture until it’s smooth and the sugar has almost melted.
Remove from the heat and stir in the chocolate until smooth. Pour into a bowl and cool for 20 minutes until lukewarm, then mix in the eggs and vanilla. Sift in the flour and a pinch of salt, and fold through until just combined.
Pour half of the mixture into the tin and use a tablespoon to dollop over 16 equally sized spoonfuls of the salted caramel. Sprinkle on the shards of two Crunchie bars, then pour the remaining brownie mixture over the top to cover. Bake for 40-45 minutes. The brownie will still have a wobble to it, but will set during cooling. Sprinkle over the remaining Crunchie shards if using and press in very lightly.
Cool in the tin for 20 minutes, then transfer to the fridge for two hours to set before slicing.

By easyFood