Knock You Naked Brownies & Pork Belly

These are seriously the best brownies I have ever made, thank you Pioneer Woman for a great recipe that Will and I could make for Mark's big day.

Ingredients

■1 box (18.5 Ounce) German Chocolate Cake Mix (I Used Duncan Hines)

■1 cup Finely Chopped Pecans

■1/3 cup Evaporated Milk

■1/2 cup Evaporated Milk (additional)

■1/2 cup Butter, Melted

■60 whole Caramels, Unwrapped (I used a bag of carmel dots that were already unwrapped)

■1/3 cup Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

■1/4 cup Powdered Sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, chopped pecans, 1/3 cup evaporated milk, and melted butter. Stir together until totally combined (Mixture will be very thick) Press half the mixture into a well-greased 9 x 9 inch square baking pan. Bake for 8 to 10 minutes. Remove pan from oven and set aside. In a double boiler (or a heatproof bowl set over a saucepan of boiling water) melt caramels with additional 1/2 cup evaporated milk. When melted and combined, pour over brownie base. Sprinkle chocolate chips as evenly as you can over the caramel.Turn out remaining brownie dough on work surface. Use your hands to press it into a large square a little smaller than the pan. Use a spatula to remove it from the surface, then set it on top of the caramel and chocolate chips. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes. Remove from pan and allow to cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate for several hours. .

*Adapted from the classic "Knock You Naked Brownies" recipe, based on a dessert at the Salt Creek Steakhouse in Breckenridge. These brownies don't really knock you naked...but almost.

Mark also asked for one thing for his b.d.: pork belly. After scouting several meat markets and having one cancel on me last minute because the butcher forgot to put the pork belly on the truck from the slaughter house, I finally found a huge one. Mark braised it on Saturday and we had a wonderful meal of pork belly over grits with fig compote. Mark cooked most of the meal, so if you want the recipe hit him up via text. We now have enough pork belly to feed a small army; which probably will ensue Mark's next hobby: making bacon.