Tag Archives: brownies

September 17, 2015 · 8:00 am

Caramel Brownies

Dude guys. I made caramel. If you haven’t seen my caramel post, check it out here.

So then I made some brownies. Just boxed brownies cuz I was in a hurry. Then I dumped a bunch of that caramel into the batter. Mixed it up well, then poured it into these cute little baking cups. I bought these a while back and never got a chance to use them. I thought they were perfect for individual sized brownies!

Since the caramel was IN the brownie batter and they were not standard sized, I had no idea how much to fill them or how long to cook them so I kind of had to just wing it.

I went about 1/2 way up, and baked at 325 for 38 minutes (I started at 30 and checked them, then added a little time as necessary). When the toothpick came out clean I pulled them out to cool. I definitely didn’t want to over bake them and dry them out.

Gorgeous.

Topped each with a little dollop of vanilla ice cream and a dribble of warm caramel…

Perfection.

I made these for a wine tasting party we had. They paired nicely and they were perfect little proportions!

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Tagged as brownies, caramel

November 10, 2014 · 8:00 am

Cookie Dough Brownie Bombs

I made these for a good friend of mine for his birthday. He is sweets obsessed. Like, I couldn’t even get his wife to tell me what his favorite thing is, because he just likes everything! We work together, so naturally everyone at work got to enjoy them too.

The idea came from a fellow (local) blogger, Hayley. You may have heard of or seen her blog Domestic Rebel. She comes up with desserts you would see in your Candyland dreams. She is known for her brownie bombs, and they’ve been on my to-make list for awhile. They were the perfect treat for my sweet-a-holic friend.

Basically you start with a ball of cookie dough. I made my Pregnant Lady Cookie Dough (which is eggless), and added mini M&M’s. Freeze them so they’re nice and hard and cold.

The next step is to make brownies. I used a regular fudgey brownie box mix.

You cut the brownies, then smoosh them between your fingers…

…then wrap the smooshed brownie around a frozen cookie dough ball. Keep smooshing until the whole ball is covered.

Next you dip the ball (which is now HUGE from the brownie) into chocolate.

I got all the way to this step before realizing I had no chocolate chips. Excuse me WHAT?! How does a baker run out of chocolate chips?

I had some leftover candy melts on hand, so I decided to just use those instead. It actually worked out okay, they kinda looked like birthday balloons! I topped them with a little sprinkles, just to help hide any imperfections from using old candy melts.

Because of the cookie dough, these need to be kept in the refrigerator.

OMG these are yummy. I have this thing against chocolate (and brownies), so they were a little too rich for me to eat a whole one. Did I mention they were huge? My husband loved them, as did all of my coworkers. I think my brother (who is far away in the Navy) cried a little when he saw me post a picture of these. I will definitely have to make them for him when he comes home!

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Tagged as birthday, brownies, candy melts, cookie dough, m&m's, sprinkles

November 5, 2013 · 8:00 am

Milky Way Brownies

Halloween for parents = way too much candy in the house.

I have a solution that might help, at least a little bit. These brownies. They are LOADED with Milky Ways.

Yes I’m a parent now, but my little one isn’t exactly trick-or-treating hard core yet. Soo I kind of cheated. I used these cool Milky Way Bites that I found when shopping at my local Kmart. (The store is closing so there were killer deals!)

If you ARE a parent of a hard-core trick-or-treater and find yourself in excess of Halloween candy, just chop up a bunch of fun sized Milky Way bars (or Snickers or 3 Musketeers, whatever is your thing..) and dump them into the brownie batter. No need to buy special little candy bites!

Milky Way Brownies – adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cups sugar

4 eggs

2 tsp vanilla

1 cup flour

2/3 cup cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

2-3 cups chopped up candy bars (I used 2 whole bags of Milky Way Bites)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Line a 13×9 pan in foil, then spray with non-stick cooking spray. (The candy is going to be ooey gooey sticky and you don’t want it to stick to the pan!)

2. Mix together sugar and oil. It should look like slushy snow.

3. Add eggs and vanilla. Don’t overmix.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to sugar mixture.

5. Mix in candy by hand.

6. Pour into prepared pan. I love how lumpy it looks with all that candy!

7. Bake at 350* for 30 minutes. Check with a toothpick (between candy pieces if possible) to make sure center isn’t too wet/uncooked.

8. Let cool COMPLETELY. Seriuosly. These will be a disaster if you try to cut them while still warm.

If you don’t care about that then by all means – plop some ice cream on top too! I bet that would taste amazing…

The foil lining makes it super easy to just lift the whole brownie sheet out of the pan. Then just peel back the sides and cut away.

These brownies are pretty rich, even without the candy, so cut them into smaller pieces… besides, they share better that way. Unless sharing isn’t your thing. 😉

Look at those gooey chunks… Mmmm…

My poor brother.. he’s going to be so jealous…

P.S.

I know I always say I don’t like chocolate… well I realized I have quite a few brownie recipes on here now, so I added a category “brownies,” which can be seen in the right-hand column of this webpage. Hope this makes it easier to find the brownie recipes you’re looking for!

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate

August 16, 2013 · 8:00 am

Reese’s Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake

My brother joined the navy earlier this year. We are very close – he actually has lived with me for most of the last 3 years.

He came to town on leave to surprise me. He’s been gone for 6 months, and this was the first time in our lives we’ve been away from each other for more than a couple weeks. It was a really good surprise, I cried for like 20 minutes straight. My sneaky husband knew everything and got it all on video. 🙂

While he was here we had a big family BBQ so everyone could see him. I (of course) asked to bring dessert. My brother is after all my best ~~fan~~ tester.

I had been eyeing this cake by Lindsay for a while now, and I knew an ice cream cake would be a perfect summer BBQ dessert that would impress not only my brother, but the entirety of my sweets loving family.

I decided to switch up her recipe a bit. Mostly because (and I know I’m in the minority here) I don’t think caramel and peanut butter belong together. Both are fabulous and both pair perfectly with chocolate, but I like to keep them separate.

Also – this cake is SOOO easy to make. If you can bake a box of brownies, you can make this ice cream cake!

Reese’s Peanut Butter Ice Cream Cake – adapted from Life, Love and Sugar

Ingredients:

1 box brownie mix, plus ingredients called for on box (I used fat free brownies)

8 oz brick cream cheese (I used 1/3 less fat)

1/4 cup milk

1/2 cup sugar

1 1/2 cups creamy peanut butter

8 oz Cool Whip, thawed (I used fat free)

Chocolate Syrup

Large bag Reese’s Miniatures, unwrapped and chopped

Directions:

1. Bake brownies in greased 13×9 pan, but reduce baking time to only 20 minutes. Let cool completely.

2. With stand mixer or electric hand mixer, beat together cream cheese, milk, sugar, and peanut butter until completely combined.

3. Carefully fold Cool Whip into peanut butter mixture.

4. Top cooled brownies with 1 cup of chocolate syrup. Spread all the way to the edges.

5. Drop chopped Reese’s on top of the chocolate syrup in an even but hearty layer.

6. Cover Reese’s in peanut butter mixture and spread smooth.

7. Cover entire pan in plastic wrap and freeze at least 4 hours, or overnight.

8. When ready to eat, cut cake into squares and top each square with more chocolate syrup and chopped Reese’s.

This cake is extremely rich. My brother and my family loved it. Honestly it was a little bit too rich for me to handle, but I’m not a huge chocolate fan anyway so don’t necessarily take my word for it. 😉

I used fat free/low fat everything I could for this recipe. I figured why not – there’s enough sugar in it anyway it’s definitely not going to be low on flavor! Feel free to use the full-fat version if you prefer!

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate, ice cream, ice cream cake, peanut butter, reeses

July 3, 2013 · 8:00 am

Slutty Brownies

Don’t let the name fool you – these brownies are a very good thing.

I don’t know where the name came from, but it’s a real thing so I figured it made more sense to leave it be. Especially when they’re this good.

Let’s get right to it, shall we?

Just a quick note – There are multiple layers to these, so I listed some of the same ingredients twice. They’re listed in the order that you need them. Don’t be scared by the long list, these are easy! I put a line between each layer to help break it up.

Slutty Brownies – adapted from this recipe

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup), melted & slightly cooled

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

2 cups + 2 tbsp flour

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

————————————————————–

1 ENTIRE pack of regular (aka Double Stuf) oreos – seriously don’t even eat one or two, you will be short!)

————————————————————–

1 cup vegetable oil

2 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup flour

2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

Directions:

1. First layer is chocolate chip cookie. Mix together melted butter, brown sugar, and white sugar. Add the egg and egg yolk, and the vanilla, scraping the bowl if necessary. Mix in baking soda and salt, then slowly add the flour. Mix in the chocolate chips by hand.

2. Spray a 13×9″ pan with non-stick cooking spray. Press the cookie dough into the bottom of the pan. (My honey helped me.)

3. Press the oreos into the chocolate chip cookie dough. You might have to spread them out a little to make sure there is oreo across the whole surface. Might even have to break some in half to reach the bottom.

4. Time to make the brownie batter! Mix together the oil and sugar. Add vanilla and eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour and cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt. Slowly add to wet mixture.

5. Carefully pour batter over oreos, making sure to cover them completely. Use a spatula to push batter into the corners and between all the oreos.

*I was feeling fancy so I added sprinkles. Totally optional. But let’s face it, everything is better with sprinkles*

6. Bake at 350* for 25-30 minutes. Check the doneness by sticking a toothpick in between where the oreos are to make sure the brownie batter is cooked thoroughly. Let cool completely before cutting. Seriously, let them cool.

I made these the night before going camping, and we didn’t have them until the 3rd night. I just covered the entire pan in foil and waited patiently!

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate, oreos, sprinkles

December 20, 2012 · 8:00 am

Fudgey Brownies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

That might be my longest titled treat yet.

Don’t worry, it’s worth it.

Just as a disclaimer, the cookie dough frosting does not have eggs in it – so while it tastes just like raw cookie dough, it won’t kill you. At least not from salmonella. I can’t promise it won’t if you eat the entire bowl of it with a spoon. That’d be a good way to go though, I must say…

Fudgey Brownies with Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting

Brownie Ingredients:

2 1/2 sticks unsalted butter (1 1/4 cups)

2 1/2 cups granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 3/4 cups cocoa powder

1/2 tsp salt (omit if using salted butter)

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Frosting Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/3 cup granulated sugar

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

scant 1/2 tsp baking soda

1 1/2 cups flour

about 2 tbsp milk

3/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 325*. Spray 13×9 pan with non-stick cooking spray.

2. Melt butter, then beat with sugar until mixed well. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Slowly add to sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Batter will be thick.

4. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out as much as possible.

5. Bake for 30 minutes (toothpick inserted into center should be mostly clean). Let cool at least 20 minutes.

**While brownies are baking, make the frosting.**

6. Beat together sugars and butter. Add vanilla, then salt and baking soda. Add flour 1/2 cup at a time, alternating with a little of the milk to keep it from getting too thick. Add more milk at the end if necessary to bring it to a thin enough consistency. Mix in the mini chocolate chips by hand.

7. When the brownies are cooled, spread the cookie dough frosting evenly across the top with an offset spatula.

8. Cover and refrigerate overnight.

9. The next morning, cut the brownies into small pieces. It was easier for me to cut one whole row, then move it to my cutting board to cut into small pieces.

10. Try not to eat the entire pan.

This is basically the same brownie recipe I used for my Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. It’s fudgey and dense, and just rich enough to hold up the cookie dough well.

From the words of one of my coworkers, these are “amazeballs.” For the record, it’s the first time I’ve ever heard him say that word.

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate, cookie dough

November 23, 2012 · 11:56 am

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies

Happy Christmas season everyone!!!

I have been itching to make Christmas desserts for a while now, and I have been listening to Christmas music for weeks. It is my firm belief that Thanksgiving is about food and family (and football if you ask my husband), and about being thankful for all that we have. To me, Christmas means much the same, with the addition of giving and sharing. It is just another step in the holiday season and there’s nothing wrong with Christmas decor/excitement/music/shopping coming before Thanksgiving. (I know Jennifer agrees with me!) My husband definitely does NOT agree, but he did bring in my decoration boxes last night, so I can officially get going into the holiday spirit properly.

To celebrate, I made brownies! Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies. Because nothing screams Christmas like the classic combo of chocolate and peppermint.

I found these gems at Cost Plus World Market right before Halloween. Snatched them up with the thoughts of brownies immediately!

I saw the Andes chips at Walmart last night so I know you can get them there too. (Yes I was at Walmart on Black ~~Friday~~ Thursday at 9pm. I survived. But for the record, I didn’t buy a thing – I will not give Walmart my money. I was with others who needed to get things there.)

Dark Chocolate Peppermint Brownies – adapted from Smitten Kitchen

Ingredients:

1 stick (1/2 cup) + 2 tbsp unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

3/4 cup + 2 tbsp special dark cocoa powder

1/2 cup flour

1/4 tsp of salt (omit if using salted butter)

1/2 package peppermint baking chips

Directions:

1. Spray 8×8 (or 9×9) pan with non-stick spray. Preheat oven to 325*.

2. Melt butter in microwave. Beat with sugar until it becomes a grainy paste.

3. Beat in eggs and vanilla.

4. In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa powder, and salt.

5. Slowly add to sugar mixture until mostly incorporated. Batter will be thick.

6. Mix in peppermint chips by hand. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out as best as possible. Sprinkle with crushed peppermint candy if desired. I desired.

7. Bake at 325 for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out mostly clean.

8. Let cool completely to set before cutting.

I thought the chips would completely melt into these, but you can see some of them peeking through in my taste tester below. The peppermint flavor and smell magically soaked into the brownie itself too. It was just the perfect punch of peppermint without being overpowering.

The brownies themselves were dense but not super fudgy. Not cakey either. Almost like a dense, thick, rich cookie. Unlike any brownie I’ve ever had. They’re pretty spectacular.

Make these and get into the Christmas spirit with me!

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Tagged as brownies, chocolate, peppermint

June 12, 2012 · 8:00 am

Cake Mix Peanut Butter Brownies

If you’ve been around here for a significant amount of time, you know how I feel about chocolate. I’ve made brownies twice. This time and this time.

But for some reason I have been wanting to make some brownies lately. I got the perfect opportunity when a friend asked me to bring dessert over for a small dinner group. It just so happens that the favorite candy of this group is Reese’s.

I compiled a few different ideas and ingreients from different recipes to make my very own recipe. You can find my inspiration here, here, and here.

Cake Mix Peanut Butter Brownies – recipe by me!

Ingredients:
1 box chocolate cake mix
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup milk
1 egg
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1 package Reese’s cup minis

Directions:
1. Preheat oven 350*. Line 13×9 pan with foil then spray with non-stick spray.

2. Mix together cake mix, oil, milk, and egg. Spread half of the batter into the bottom of the pan.

3. In a separate bowl mix together sweetened condensed milk and peanut butter. Pour and spread evenly over the cake batter.

4. Cut the Reese’s minis in half and distribute over the glorious peanut butter mixture.

5. Dollop the remaining cake mix over the Reese’s and carefully spread it out as much as possible.

Peekaboo Reese’s!

6. Bake for 25 minutes and let cool completely.

7. Remove from pan by lifting out with the foil. Cut into squares. Eat. Share.

Look how cute this plate is that I got from Target! Perfect for the summer…

These are moist, not too rich, and perfectly peanut buttery!

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May 4, 2012 · 8:00 am

Chocolate Chip Cookie Brownies

Oh my my…

These babies are the result of a hot night that Mr. Chocolate Chip Cookie and Mrs. Brownie spent together… in secret… but I am outting them. Because the world needs to meet this baby.

I saw them on Natasha’s blog Butter and immediately knew I wanted to make them. I adapted my recipe a bit based on ingredients I had on hand, but the idea was all Natasha’s.

First we’re gonna start with some chocolate chip cookie dough. One of the best things in the world if you ask me.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough (adapted from Butter)

Ingredients:

1 1/2 sticks butter (3/4 cup), melted & slightly cooled

1 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg + 1 egg yolk

2 tsp vanilla

2 cups + 2 tbsp flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions:

Mix together sugars and melted butter until smooth. (I always put the sugar in the bowl first then put the butter on top.)

Beat in eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking soda. Slowly add to butter mixture until fully combined.

Stir in chips by hand.

Line 13×9 pan with parchment paper. Make tablespoon sized balls of dough and drop into baking dish. (Let’s pretend I didn’t forget to take a picture at this part, okay?)

Next comes the brownie batter… I’ve mentioned before that I don’t like chocolate, which includes brownies. Don’t believe me? Search my blog for brownies. You’ll get 1 actual brownie recipe before this.

Anyways… I couldn’t use Natasha’s recipe because I didn’t have all the ingredients called for, so I used a recipe I found on AllRecipes.com. When I did a google search for “homemade brownie recipe” it was the first that came up. And it looked easy and that’s how I roll.

Brownies (as found here on AllRecipes.com)

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 cup sugar

1 tsp vanilla

2 eggs

1/2 cup flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

Mix together oil, sugar and vanilla. Looks weird at this point…

Beat in eggs. Looks a little better now.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

Slowly add to oil mixture until fully incorporated.

Pour over the cookie dough balls and make sure batter gets into each corner.

Look how beautiful it is.

Lets look again.

Ooooh, aaahhh…

Okay enough of that. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes. It took mine 25 minutes. Toothpick should come out with wet crumbs, but not wet batter.

Half cookie amazingness, half soft rich brownie.

Even I enjoyed these. Well, one anyway. I might have to wait till tomorrow to have another.

As always, brother approved.

Next time I make these, I will press the cookie into the bottom of the pan (to form an entire layer) then pour the brownie mix on top. Even distribution would have made these even better!

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June 12, 2011 · 2:12 pm

Best Brownies EVER

Okay so I have mentioned before that I don’t really like chocolate that much. Basically I don’t like chocolate just by itself. No chocolate cake, brownies, chocolate bars… the exception comes in when you add stuff to it. Nougat, caramel, nuts… I love Milky Way, Snickers, Sees caramels in the nuts and chews box.. mmm… So anyway, I don’t eat brownies. Like never.

About a month ago, a coworker and I had a play fight over him eating too many of the sugar cookies I brought in to work… somehow the result of this play fight was him trying to “out do” me and bring something yummier than my cookies. So he brings in brownies. I had to let him down with the news that I don’t like brownies/chocolate, and he INSISTED anyway that I try one. Ugh, fine. I took one and it sat on my desk a few hours before I figured what the hell.. and took a bite.

O.M.G. – Heaven. In my mouth. Like Seriously.

I was a little too embarrassed to tell him that I was in love with it, after just telling him I don’t eat brownies. I did however, go back for another before they ran out! By the end of the day I did confess that the brownie was the best thing I have ever eaten. He promised he’d bring me the recipe, but kept forgetting… But I decided I wanted to make them for a wine party I was going to last night. (Wine+chocolate=perfect, right?) He was kind enough to finally remember to get me the recipe. And I am now going to share with anyone who happens to read my little blog! Trust me, you’re gonna want to print this one out and keep it!

Caramel Brownies

14 oz bag caramels

5 oz can evaporated milk

box chocolate cake mix w/ pudding in mix

1/2 cup (1 stick) margarine

1 1/2 cups chopped walnuts

6 oz bag chocolate chips

Unwrap caramels and put in small pot with 1/3 cup (half of the can) of evaporated milk. Turn on low and stir every once in a while to get things melty. We eventually want it to be smooth, but it can get started while we get the rest ready.

Beat together cake mix, the rest of the evaporated milk, and the margarine. It will eventually turn into a ball of dough.

Press half of the dough into the bottom of a greased 9×13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 6 minutes.

Pull the pan out of the oven and sprinkle 1 cup of chopped walnuts over the top of the dough, followed by the chocolate chips.

When the caramel is good and melty smooth, pour it evenly over the top of the chocolate chips. Don’t drool into the caramel!!!

The rest of the cake/dough mixture goes on top. I tried to smoosh it down and it wasn’t working well with the caramel there. Instead I took small pieces of the dough and flattened it as much as I could with my fingers then laid it on top the caramel. It doesn’t need to be perfect, just as good of coverage as possible.

Sprinkle the rest of the nuts across the top. (This helps hide the holes!)

Pop the pan back in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

Let cool completely then cut up and serve. These pics arestraight out of the oven. Look at the crispy gooey caramel on the corner!

Plated and ready for the wine party!

The brownies were brought out just in time for the red wines, and they paired perfectly! I will definitely be making these again and again and again… you should too!

*PS – they are good cold! We kept the leftovers in the fridge and my husband said it made them even better!*