grandma's caramel brownies

contributed by granddaughter Rebecca Page...
Grandma taught me this recipe one of the two springs (probably 1980) that she and Grandpa lived in Phoenix. Liz and I spent every day after school with Grandma and Grandpa. We played a LOT of rummy cube and shuffle board. We also baked bread, cakes, cookies, and a lot of caramel brownies. The recipe for these brownies and cowboy cookies are the only recipes I know by heart.

Oven:    350 F

1 box     German chocolate cake mix

1 cup     semi-sweet chocolate chips

2/3 cup evaporated milk^a

1 stick    margarine (softened)

1 cup     chopped walnuts

1 cup     kraft caramels 

1.  Preheat oven to 350 °F

2. 
 U      Unwrap the caramels and melt them in a double boiler with 1/3 cup of evaporated milk. Heat on medium-medium high. Stir melting caramels every few minutes to facilitate melting.^c

3.       In a large bowl, mix the cake mix, walnuts, butter and the rest of the milk. Start with an electric mixer on medium. You will use your hands by the end, as it will be too thick for the mixer.^d

4.       Split the batter in two. Use one half of the batter for the bottom of brownies: pat ½ of the batter into the bottom of a 13x9 inch pan.^e Bake for 6 minutes in the oven.

5.       Remove pan from oven. Pour melted caramels over the entire cooked portion of batter. Sprinkle chocolate chips throughout the melted caramels.

6.       Remove small tablespoon-sized of balls of uncooked batter, pat flat then lay on the caramels and chocolate chips.^f Repeat until most of the caramel/chocolate chip mixture is covered with the flattened uncooked batter.^g Cook for another 15 minutes.

^a I use a 5 oz can of evaporated milk and just divide it in two (5 oz is almost equal to 2/3 of a cup)

^b I use a whole 11.5 oz bag of caramels, but Grandma always used 1 cup

^c It usually takes 15-30 minutes for the caramels to melt so I typically start step 3 about 10-20 minutes after starting the caramels.

^d I use the mixer on the margarine first, and then mix the rest. The batter mixes slowly. By the end, the batter is so thick that you need to mix the rest with your hands. The batter is fully mixed when there are no traces of margarine and/or cake mix.

^e Patting out the batter is easier with wax paper. However, I never seem to have this around. If the butter is really soft, then I cool the batter in the freezer for a few minutes. This makes it easier to pat flat into the bottom of the 13x9 inch pan without it all sticking to your hands.

^f Again, this step is also easier with wax paper; in this case, it is easier to pat the batter between two pieces of wax paper. If you don’t have any around, pat the batter between your hands. If the butter is really softened, you will end up with more on your hands than on the brownies. Again, the easiest way to avoid this is to put the batter in the freezer to get a little bit cooler before you pat out the second half of the batter.

^g The second half of the batter is not enough to cover the entire pan—there will be some spaces that the caramel is exposed. However, it should cover 90-95% of it.