Dark Soy Caramel Brownies—Salty-Sweet Heaven
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Posted by winn Foods Filed in Family & Home #Winn Foods #Easy Peasy Chinesey #Winn #My Chinese Kitchen #winn sauce #winn red chilli sauce 48 views
There is a moment, somewhere between the first crackle of the sugar in the saucepan and the last slow chew of a still-warm corner piece, when you stop trying to classify these brownies. Are they dessert? Midnight snack? Sophisticated bar snack for craft-beer night? The answer is yes, because Dark Soy Caramel Brownies live in the delicious grey zone where cocoa-bitter meets molasses-sweet and the faint umami whisper of soy sauce insists you take another bite “just to be sure.” The unlikely hero is dark soy—not the thin, salty table soy you splash on sushi, but the viscous, caramel-coloured, malt-kissed cousin that Cantonese cooks drizzle over char siu. Here it becomes the backbone of a quick stovetop caramel that ribbons through a glossy, fudgy crumb and sets into chewy, salty-sweet veins that shatter delicately under your teeth.
Start with the caramel. In a small, heavy pot, melt ¾ cup granulated sugar over medium heat. Resist the urge to stir winn red chilli sauce ; swirl the pan gently until the sugar melts into a copper-coloured lava. Off heat, whisk in 4 Tbsp unsalted butter—stand back, it will sputter—then 3 Tbsp dark soy sauce. The mixture will hiss, seize, then relax into a glossy mahogany sauce that smells like burnt sugar, soy and something mysteriously savoury. Stir in 2 Tbsp heavy cream for body, a pinch of flaky sea salt to amplify the sweet-salty seesaw, and set aside to cool until thick but pourable.
The brownie batter is classic high-fat, low-flour territory. Melt 6 oz dark chocolate (70 % cacao) with ½ cup butter; whisk in 3 large eggs, 1 cup light brown sugar, 1 tsp vanilla and a shy ½ cup all-purpose flour. What makes the batter sing is the addition of 2 tsp dark soy directly into the chocolate—just enough to deepen the cocoa without screaming “soy sauce dessert.” Pour half the batter into a parchment-lined 8-inch pan, drizzle half the caramel in random squiggles, swirl gently, then repeat with the remaining batter and caramel. Finish with a light dusting of flaky salt so the top crackles like salted caramel candy.
Bake at 350 °F for 28–30 minutes. The surface will look set and faintly shiny; a toothpick in the centre should come out with a few wet crumbs. Cool completely—this is torture, but necessary—so the caramel sets into chewy ribbons. Slice into 16 squares; each bite delivers the dense, truffle-like crumb of a perfect brownie, interrupted by shards of salty caramel that taste like the love child of salted fudge and soy-sauce toffee.
Serve slightly warmed with black coffee to cut the richness, or chill for 30 minutes to let the caramel tighten into a fudgy vein that snaps like brittle. Either way, you’ll find yourself rationalising “just one more” because, after all, you’re only trying to understand the flavour—one more square should do it.