Frosted Brownies

I keep making variations on my scratch brownie recipes.  I blended the brownie base from this recipe with the Chocolate Buttercream Frosting from this recipe.  They are just as awesome as I was hoping.  I get requests at work to bring these in.

Frosted Brownies

Brownies:
2 stick butter - melted
2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Frosting:
1/2 stick butter - melted
2 T milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup cocoa
1 1/2 cup powdered sugar

Stir together butter, sugar, and vanilla.  Add eggs, stirring after each addition. Stir in cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Pour into a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.  While the brownies are baking, make frosting.  Beat together butter, milk, vanilla, cocoa, and powdered sugar.  After the brownies have cooled for 5 minutes, spread the frosting.

Caramel Swirl Brownies

I decided that I wanted to make Caramel Swirl Brownies for a meeting at work.  I looked online for a recipe and didn't find what I wanted.  I wanted to use store bought caramel dip for apples as the swirl, but all I could find were recipes where you take a whole bag of caramels, unwrap them, and cook with evaporated milk. Then I opened the cupboard to grab a box of brownie mix.  No mix.  Did I give up?  No way!  I grabbed a scratch brownie recipe from my cookie brownies.  And eyeballed the caramel dip, then baked for a while, checked, baked some more, checked, and so on :)  I think the bake time is around 40 minutes, but check ahead of time so that you do not burn them.

Caramel Swirl Brownies

2 stick butter - melted
2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
6oz caramel dip - or more to taste

Melt butter, stir in sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs, stirring after each addition. Stir in cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Pour into a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish.  With a large spoon, place 5-6 scoops of dip scattered over the dough.  Using the spoon or a spatula, swirl the caramel through the batter.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Bombshell Brownies

Wow are these delicious.  I have made two pans of these in the last week and this is all that is left to take a picture of.  Sorry.  Go make your own. :)  I made these again with m&m's instead of chocolate chips.  YUM.  If you are going gluten/wheat free - just make your own oat flour and replace the wheat flour - you can hardly tell the difference!

Bombshell Brownies

2 stick butter
3 cup sugar
4 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cup flour (oat flour (recipe below) - wheat free)
1 tsp salt
1 cup cocoa
1/2 bag chocolate chips or m&m's

Melt butter, stir in sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Stir in vanilla.  Add flour, salt, and cocoa.  Mix well.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spoon into greased 9x13" baking dish.  Bake at 350° for 40 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Oat Flour

Place oatmeal in a food processor and process until it is the consistency of flour.  Measure equivalent cup for cup with regular flour.

Surprise Brownies

These are a variation of the Cheesecake Brownies I made a while back, I just added some chocolate chips, yum.  I based it off from my mother in law's surprise cupcakes, which are quite similar.

Surprise Brownies

1 box brownie mix
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese
1/2 bag chocolate chips

Mix together brownie mix, oil, water, and 2 eggs.  Pour into greased 9x13" baking dish.  Mix together cream cheese, 1 egg, and sugar.  Stir in chocolate chips.  Spoon globs on top of the brownie batter and then marble through.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Cookie Brownies

All I have to say is, wow.  You need to try these.  Jer saw a cookie brownie mix at the store and we both thought that was a delicious idea.  I decided to find a scratch recipe to make it at home.  I did have to give them my own twist and add some malt mix to the cookie part - don't skip that step it makes them so irresistible!

Cookie Brownies

Brownie Layer
2 stick butter - melted
2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt

Cookie Layer
1.5 stick butter - softened
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg
1 egg yolk
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 T malt mix
1 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

For the brownie layer, melt butter, stir in sugar and vanilla.  Add eggs, stirring after each addition. Stir in cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt.  Pour into a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish.  For the cookie layer, cream together butter and sugars, mix in eggs and vanilla.  Add flour, baking soda, salt, and malt mix and mix until a soft dough forms.  Stir in chocolate chips and spoon onto brownie layer.  Smooth out and bake at 350° for 40 minutes.  The top will be slightly browned, and the brownies will still be slightly gooey.

Cheesecake Brownies

I had 3 bricks of cream cheese in my fridge so I went searching for a good cheesecake recipe to use them up.  Nothing stood out to me until I came across this recipe on allrecipes.com for Cheesecake Brownies.  It sounded pretty good, even though it only used up one brick.  They are delicious.

Cheesecake Brownies

1 box brownie mix
2/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup water
3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar
8 oz cream cheese

Mix together brownie mix, oil, water, and 2 eggs.  Pour into greased 9x13" baking dish.  Mix together cream cheese, 1 egg, and sugar.  Spoon globs on top of the brownie batter and then marble through.  Bake at 350° for 30 minutes.

Oreo Brownies

I have been on an oreo kick lately.  Who doesn't love a good oreo based dessert?  I wanted to make brownies so I googled oreo brownie and found a recipe on Betty Crocker that looked pretty good.  I made the base as directed but decided to use white chocolate instead of frosting.  They are delicious!

Oreo Brownies

1 box brownie mix
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
20 oreos - crushed
8 oz white chocolate

Mix together brownie mix, water, oil, and eggs.  Stir in 10 crushed oreos.  Bake at 350° for 28 minutes.  Let them cool.  Melt white chocolate in the microwave, stir in remaining 10 crushed oreos.  Frost the brownies with the chocolate mixture. 

Lunch Lady Brownies

I found this recipe on Pinterest, looking for a scratch brownie recipe.  They turned out great, my husband did not want me to bring them away anywhere so that he could eat more of them - always a good sign.  I think that the brownie base needs a little more flavor, so I added salt to the recipe and it was quite an improvement.

Lunch Lady Brownies

2 sticks butter
1/2 cup cocoa
2 cup flour
2 cup sugar
1/2 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/2 T vanilla

1/2 stick butter - softened
1/4 cup milk
1/4 cup cocoa
3 cup powdered sugar
dash salt

Melt butter, mix in cocoa.  Add in eggs and vanilla and stir until smooth.  Add flour, sugar, and salt, mix until combined.  Pour into a lightly greased 9x13" baking dish and bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.  Once you remove from the oven, quickly beat together butter, milk, cocoa, and salt.  Add powdered sugar and mix well.  Frost the brownies after they have cooled for about 10 minutes.

Better Box Brownies

I love brownies, and have made them from scratch before, but most of the time that seems like too much work.  But box brownies sometimes leave a little something to be desired.  So I started dressing up my box brownies by adding ingredients, and I have been happy with the result.

Better Box Brownies

1 box brownie mix

2 eggs

2/3 cup oil

1/4 cup water

2 T cocoa powder

1/2 bag chocolate chips or m&m's

In a large bowl, mix together brownie mix, eggs, oil, water, and cocoa powder.  Stir in chocolate chips and pour mixture into a greased 9x13" baking dish.  Bake at 350° for 28 minutes.