Homemade heart-shaped brownies with salted caramel and pecans

Brownies are the perfect dessert, but they are even better when drizzled in salted caramel and sprinkled with pecans.

Brownies are hands down one of my favorite sweet treats. They are chewy, chocolaty and a breeze to throw together. I took that goodness and made it even better. I cut them into heart shapes for Valentine’s Day and then drizzled them with lots of salted caramel and sprinkled with toasted pecans.

Homemade heart-shaped brownies with salted caramel and pecans recipe

Serves about 4

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup melted butter, slightly cooled
• 1 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
• 1/3 cup melted caramel
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/3 cup toasted and chopped pecans

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a 9 x 9-inch baking dish with parchment paper, set aside.
2. In a large bowl, mix together butter, sugar, vanilla extract and espresso powder. Stir in eggs.
3. In a small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and kosher salt.
4. Slowly add the flour mixture into the wet mixture, stirring until completely combined. Stir in chocolate chips.
5. Add batter to prepared dish and bake for about 25 minutes until fully cooked.
6. Once the brownies are completely cool, remove from the pan and cut brownies into a heart shape, using a heart-shaped cookie cutter. I cut out as many large hearts as possible and used a small heart-shaped cutter for the scrap pieces.
7. Mix together melted caramel and sea salt. Drizzle over cut brownies and sprinkle with toasted pecans.

More Valentine’s Day recipes

Fried Nutella ravioli
Red velvet pancakes with cream cheese glaze
Fried cheesecake burrito