Place a piece of parchment paper on a small tray that is both heat and freezer safe. Spray the paper lightly with cooking spray.
Sprinkle the granulated sugar evenly across the bottom of a saucepan and place the pan over medium heat on the stove. Let it sit untouched. Once the sugar starts to melt, the pan can be swirled a bit to melt any remaining sugar. This will take 4-8 minutes depending on pan size and type.
Once all the sugar has melted, it will be a dark copper color and might smoke (this is fine). Remove the pan from the stove.
Add the butter and whisk in. If it seizes up, that’s ok. Pour in the cream plus a pinch or two of the salt and stir.
Place the saucepan back on the stove and turn the heat to medium-high. Let this bubble for 3 minutes.
Remove the pan and pour the caramel onto the parchment paper lined tray. Place the tray in the freezer for about 10-15 minutes, until the caramel has completely set up.
Blondies:
Preheat the oven to 350° F (176° C) and spray an 8x8 baking pan with baking spray, butter it liberally, or line the pan with parchment.
Remove the now-set caramel from the freezer and break it up into smaller pieces.
In a large microwave safe bowl, melt the 1 stick of butter to 2/3 of the way melted, about 30-45 seconds on high. Remove the bowl then stir the butter with a spatula to melt it completely.
Add in the brown sugar and whisk.
Add in the egg, vanilla, and salt then whisk to combine.
Pour in the flour and with a spatula, gently stir it in until just barely combined.
Add the chocolate chips or chunks, the broken pretzel pieces, and about 3/4 of the broken caramel pieces then gently fold everything together.
Scoop the batter into the baking pan and spread it out level. Sprinkle the remaining caramel pieces atop and place the pan in the oven.
Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are nicely browned and the remainder looks set and slightly dry.
Remove the pan from the oven, set atop a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Using a knife, loosen the edges away from the pan and remove the whole thing to a rack to cool completely.
Slice and serve.
Notes
Adapted from Smitten Kitchen by way of The Kitchn.