Category: Bars, Blondies, + Brownies

Peppermint Bark Brownies

One of my favorite Christmas treats is the peppermint bark from Williams Sonoma. I tend to pick it up after Christmas when it goes on sale (I mean, that stuff is expensive as heck), and it’s absolutely delicious. So when I saw these peppermint bark brownies in a Christmas baking magazine by Delish, I just had to make them.

I adapted the recipe a bit to suit my own tastes, as I usually do, and they are indeed delish. I used a dark chocolate brownie recipe I’ve made many times before, but next time I’ll dial back the frosting – I think it was a bit thick compared to the brownie itself. The frosting would make a wonderful addition to dark chocolate cupcakes as well.

Ingredients

For the brownies

  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup flour

For the frosting

  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract
  • 1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips, melted and cooled*
  • About 1/4 cup crushed cand canes

*Be careful when cooling your melted white chocolate chips – they can begin to harden faster than you might imagine! I let mine sit until they were just cool enough to blend into the frosting. 

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 tin with baking spray.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar, allowing the mixture to become just hot, but not bubbly. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, then stir in flour.

Pour batter into the baking tin and spread evenly. Bake for 29-32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before frosting.

To make frosting, beat butter on medium speed for about 1 minute. Add powdered sugar and beat on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter. Add peppermint extract, then melted white chocolate chips. Beat to combine completely, until smooth.

Spread frosting over cooled brownies and sprinkle with crushed candy canes. Cut into squares; makes 24.

S’mores Bars

Occasionally I take a treat to the office and people go completely wild. Such was the case with these s’mores bars, which I’ve made twice already this summer and people still ask me to make again. Fear not, coworkers. There will always be more s’mores bars, regardless of the time of year.

These treats are essentially a chocolate chip cookie dough made with crushed graham crackers. A layer of marshmallows, which melts and leaves a delicious flavor and wonderful chewy texture, goes in between two layers of cookie dough. One caveat: the dough is quite thick and rather difficult to spread, but I developed an effective (if not slightly odd) technique for creating the layers.

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs (from about 12 full sheets of crackers, see tips below)
  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1/2 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup milk chocolate chips
  • 2 1/4 cups miniature marshmallows

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 baking tin with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt; set aside.

To make graham cracker crumbs, break full sheets apart and place in a zip-top bag. Use a mallet, rolling pin, or the back of a spoon to finely crush into crumbs. It takes about 10-12 full sheets of crackers to make 1 1/2 cups; start with 10 and add more if you need to.

In a mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla extract and beat to combine. Gradually add the flour mixture, beating on low to just combine. Stir in graham cracker crumbs, then chocolate chips.

Divide the dough in half; it will be difficult to spread in the pan because it’s so thick, and there’s not a ton of dough.  I took handfuls of dough and flattened them between my palms to create large cookie-sized portions, then placed them in the tin to cover the bottom and spread the dough gently with my fingers to connect the pieces together. Top with miniature marshmallows and repeat the process to cover the marshmallows as completely as you can. It’s okay if a few marshmallows poke through.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the edges are golden brown and the center is still set up still soft. Remove from oven and cool in the pan about 15 minutes, then lift out using the parchment paper and cool completely on a wire rack before cutting into squares. Makes 24.

Oatmeal Fudge Bars

Okay so I don’t know whose idea it was to put a layer of fudge filling between two layers of oatmeal cookie dough and bake it but whoever they are, they deserve a Nobel prize. Not that they give Nobel prizes for baking. But maybe they should.

These treats were so popular at the office that I baked a second batch this weekend to take them in for everyone who stopped me in the hallway and said “I heard those oatmeal fudge bars were delicious and I didn’t get one because they were already gone.”  There are many recipes for treats like this online, but mine came from Food Lovin Family and I just added some more vanilla, per usual. I’m also curious about whether adding cinnamon to the cookie dough would enhance the flavor, so I may try that next time.

Ingredients

For the cookie dough

  • 1 cup butter, at room temperature
  • 2 cups light brown sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 2 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 2 1/2 cups old-fashioned, rolled oats

For the fudge layer

  • 12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (1 normal-sized bag)
  • 14 ounce can sweetened condensed milk
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 baking tin with parchment paper, extending the paper over the sides; this makes it easier to lift the bars out. I clip the edges of my parchment to the baking tin with binder clips while I’m assembling to make it easier for the parchment to stay in place while spreading the dough and filling, then I remove the clips before the tin goes in the oven.

Make the oatmeal cookie dough: Cream together butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy. Add eggs and vanilla and beat to combine. Beat in flour, baking soda, and salt to combine, then stir in oats.

Take 2/3 of the cookie dough and press it into your baking tin, then make your fudge filling by placing your chocolate chips, sweetened condensed milk, melted butter, vanilla extract, and salt in a saucepan over low heat. Stir frequently until melted and smooth, then pour over the unbaked cookie dough and spread to cover evenly.

Take your remaining cookie dough in small portions and flatten them out as best you can between your hands, then place them over the fudge layer to cover it; the original recipe called for just dropping spoonfuls of dough onto the fudge, but I wanted a more even top layer. Cover the fudge as best you can; it’s okay if there are some gaps.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until the top is golden brown. Remove from oven and cool completely in the tin; lift out the parchment and cut the bars into squares. Makes 24.

Cadbury Mini Egg Brownies

There are so many chocolate brands available in the United States. Hershey (my favorite), Cadbury, Ghirardelli, Nestle, Lindt…the list goes on. Pittsburgh has its own chocolate maker, Sarris, whose shop is a Willy Wonka-style paradise complete with an ice cream parlor.

Cadbury’s mini eggs are solid chocolate, covered in a crunchy candy shell, and they’re an Easter delicacy. I found this recipe at Savor the Spoonful, and added more vanilla, as I do to nearly every recipe I bake. The end result is an ultra-chocolate treat; my mom, who is retired but still substitute teaches and sometimes works at the aftercare program at The Ellis School (my alma mater and where she taught and served as director of athletics for many years), told me that she “didn’t even get past the library” with these last week. High praise, indeed.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup butter, melted
  • 3 eggs, at room temperature
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 3/4 cup granulated sugar
  • 1 cup light brown sugar, packed
  • 1 cup flour
  • 3/4 cup cocoa powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 9-ounce bag Cadbury Mini Eggs, divided (1 cup crushed, remainder whole)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to hang over the sides, and spray with nonstick spray.

Divide your eggs; take 1 cup and crush them using a meat mallet or rolling pin; leave the rest whole. You don’t have to crush the eggs completely; you want a mixture of small bits and larger chunks.

In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter, eggs, and vanilla extract. Add sugars and stir until combined, then stir in flour, cocoa powder, and salt until just combined. Stir in crushed Cadbury eggs.

Pour batter into pan and smooth to make an even surface; top with remaining whole Cadbury eggs. Bake for 40-50 minutes, until a cake tester comes out with a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and cool completely in the pan before serving. Makes 16.

Dark Chocolate Mint Brownies

Peppermint patties are one of my favorite things, though I hardly ever have them. I feel like I used to see the full-sized version in the candy displays at supermarket checkouts, but it’s been a long time since I’ve found one there.

This recipe, which is actually inspired by the Girl Scouts Thin Mint cookie, uses miniature ones – though you could chop up some full-sized ones if you can find them. Alternatively, you could use actual Thin Mints in these, but I feel like the peppermint patty is a better option, not just for how they look when they’re cut but also because you get a bit more peppermint this way.

Ingredients

  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 16 Miniature Peppermint Patties

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 tin with baking spray.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar, allowing the mixture to become just hot, but not bubbly – this yields the shiny, crackly top. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, then stir in flour.

Pour about half the batter into the pan and top with peppermint patties, spacing evenly in rows. Pour the remaining batter over top and smooth with a spatula. Bake for 29-32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan before cutting. Makes 24.

Oreo Brownies

Oreos and brownies are delicious enough on their own, no? And yet when combined, they are even more amazing, albeit laden with calories. Everything in moderation, I suppose.

This recipe is adapted from Sugar Spun Run, and I admit that I over-baked mine by at least a few minutes. The middle pieces are fudgy, just like I intended, but the edges are crispier than I’d like. My recipe adaptation was to just use Oreos in the brownies themselves and not sprinkle extra crushed-up ones over the top, but you could certainly do that if you like. I also used regular chocolate chips, rather than mini chips, in the batter and I feel like minis would have been better. Live and learn. 

Ingredients

  • 10 tablespoons butter
  • 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips, divided
  • 1/2 cup Dutch process cocoa
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2/3 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 16 Oreo cookies (I used Double Stuf)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 9 baking tin.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter and 1/2 cup chocolate chips; stir in cocoa powder and set aside. In a large bowl, whisk together sugar and eggs, then pour in chocolate mixture and whisk to combine. Stir in vanilla, then add flour and salt and mix to combine completely. Add remaining 1/2 cup chocolate chips.

Pour half the batter into the tin and top with Oreos, arranging evenly in four lines of four. Top with remaining batter and spread to cover the Oreos as best you can. Bake for 25-30 minutes, until a cake tester comes out with a few fudgy crumbs, not wet batter. Cool completely before cutting. Makes 16.

Spiced Pecan Blondies

spciedpecanblondiesAre dark and light brown sugar interchangeable? It probably depends on who you ask, but I’d say yes, for the most part. Dark brown sugar contains more molasses, giving it a richer color and flavor than the light variety. And in my kitchen, dark brown sugar turns to a rock in a matter of days after it’s opened, so I try to use up the whole bag quickly when I do bake with it.

These spiced pecan blondies are an adaptation of a recipe I’ve made many times before, and they’re a great way to use up dark brown sugar. I used apple pie spice for my spice in this recipe, and it was very subtle; next time, I’d probably add a full teaspoon. This recipe would also be good with just cinnamon, too.

Ingredients

  • 10 2/3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups packed dark brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 cup chopped pecans, toasted and cooled
  • 1/2 teaspoon apple pie spice

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with baking spray.

In a large saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture melts and becomes smooth. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once cool, add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Stir in flour, baking powder, baking soda, and apple pie spice; batter will become fairly thick. Stir in pecans, then spread into an even layer in the pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until top is a very light golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cut into bars while still warm; when completely cool, remove from pan and store in an airtight container. Makes 24.

Chocolate and Caramel Chip Blondies

chocolate and caramel chip blondiesMy niece, Margaret, was born on Halloween. Margaret is technically my cousin, as her mom is my cousin Barb, but to her I’m Aunt Amy given the age gap. Anyway, I think having a Halloween birthday would be really cool – you get to dress up, there’s always going to be some kind of party, and spooky season is fun in a lot of ways. I like to call Margaret “Count Margula” around her birthday in a nod to Dracula, a starring figure in this season.

These chocolate and caramel chip blondies made their way to Count Margula and her sister, Mo, for their Halloween/birthday enjoyment and they were a big hit. I used Nestle caramel chips, which I think tasted a lot like butterscotch and less of caramel than I wanted, but overall they turned out well.

Ingredients

  • 10 2/3 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups packed light brown sugar
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 3/4 cup milk chocolate chips, plus about 2 tablespoons for sprinkling
  • 3/4 cup caramel chips, plus about 2 tablespoons for sprinkling

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 x 13 baking pan with baking spray.

In a large saucepan, combine butter and brown sugar. Stir constantly over medium heat until mixture melts and becomes smooth. Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl and allow to cool about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Once cool, add eggs and vanilla and mix well.

Stir in flour, baking powder, and baking soda; batter will become fairly thick. Stir in chocolate chips and caramel chips; the mixture will be thick. Spread into your pan, then sprinkle additional chocolate chips and caramel chips over the top.

Bake for 25-30 minutes, until top is a very light golden brown and a cake tester comes out clean.

Cut into bars while still warm; when completely cool, remove from pan and store in an airtight container. Makes 24.

Caramel Frosted Brownies

caramelbrownieBrownies are one of my favorite things to bake (and to eat). Start with a reliable recipe as your base and add whatever flavors you want – mix in toasted nuts or chocolate chips, frost them, drizzle them, whatever you want.

These treats are basic and delicious, using my standard easy brownies recipe and caramel buttercream. I almost sprinkled Heath bits on top, but decided to leave them as-is. I’d also like to come up with a caramel swirl brownie, not unlike peanut butter swirl brownies. Or event a caramel peanut butter swirl? This also just gave me an idea for peanut butter caramel frosting…and now my imagination is running wild. We’ll see what happens. 

Ingredients

For the brownies

  • 1 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 4 eggs
  • 6 tablespoons cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/2 cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

For the frosting

  • 12 tablespoons butter, softened
  • 3 cups powdered sugar
  • 1/3 cup plus 3 tablespoons caramel sauce, to taste 
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 baking tin; I always sprinkle the bottom of the tin with sugar when I’m baking brownies for a crunch bottom crust.

In a mixing bowl, stir together oil and sugar, then add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each. Stir in cocoa powder, then salt, flour, and vanilla until the batter is smooth.

Pour into the baking tin and spread into an even layer. Bake for 30-34 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. These brownies are fudgy, but shouldn’t be too gooey in the middle when they’re done; the center will look mostly set on top.

Remove from oven and allow to cool before frosting.

To make frosting, beat butter and powdered sugar on low speed until the sugar is fully incorporated into the butter. Add caramel sauce and vanilla and beat to combine completely. Pour over brownies and frost with an offset spatula; cut into 24 squares. 

Mexican Chocolate Brownies

mexicanchocolatebrowniesWhat makes something a “Mexican chocolate” treat is subjective. Some recipes just use cinnamon, while others use cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Cayenne is one bridge too far for me baking-wise, so these Mexican chocolate brownies are just a combination of fudgy dark chocolate and cinnamon.

The brownie base is the King Arthur Baking fudgy brownie recipe, and I mixed in a bag of dark chocolate chips and a teaspoon of cinnamon into the batter. You can go easier on the cinnamon if you like, but I feel like the dark chocolate can take it. Also, these brownies had the most amazing shiny, crackly top I have ever seen; this is achieved by melting butter, then adding sugar and re-heating it to allow the sugar to dissolve. Brownie magic, for sure.

Ingredients

  • 12 tablespoons butter
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs
  • 1 cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 12-ounce bag dark chocolate chips

Preparation

Preheat oven to 325. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 tin with baking spray.

In a large pot, melt butter over medium-low heat. Stir in sugar, allowing the mixture to become just hot, but not bubbly – this yields the shiny, crackly top. Remove from heat and stir in cocoa powder, salt, baking powder, and vanilla. Whisk in eggs, then stir in flour, cinnamon, and dark chocolate chips.

Pour batter into the baking tin and spread evenly. Bake for 29-32 minutes, until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean or with just a few moist crumbs. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely in the pan before cutting. Makes 24.