Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars
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Wow.
That one word basically sums up these brownies. They are amazing and gooey and crunchy and moist and could easily translate to, “I’m sorry I was a shmuck,” “I love you,” “Will you marry me,” “I think you’re cool and can’t wait until our next date,” or in this case, “I obviously like my coworkers.” Who knew brownies could be so expressive?
Keep in mind, the deliciousness does come at a price–these are a bit time consuming and dirty a lot of bowls, but they are so worth it in the end! What could be better than a brownie topped with marshmallows topped with melted peanut butter and chocolate with Rice Krispies mixed in?
Brownie Ingredients
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
½ tsp salt
4 large eggs, room temperature
2 cups granulated sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
Topping Ingredients
7 ounces mini marshmallows
1 ½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup Jif peanut butter
1 TBSP unsalted butter
1 ½ cups Rice Krispies
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan.
In a medium saucepan, melt the chocolate, butter, and ¾ cup of the semisweet chocolate chips on medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes. In a medium bowl, sift the flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl, place the eggs and whisk thoroughly. Add in the sugar and vanilla. Stir the melted ingredients into the egg mixture, mixing well. Stir in the dry sifted ingredients and mix well. Fold in the remaining ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips.
Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and even with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.
Remove the brownies from the oven, and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.
While the brownies are baking, place the chocolate chips, peanut butter, and butter in a medium saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat, add the cereal,and mix well. Allow this to cool for 3 minutes or so.
Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.
Makes 12 3×3-inch bars. (I cut them a lot smaller and easily got a few dozen bars.)
Recipe from Culinary Concoctions.
Chocolate Chip Cupcakes/Muffins/Cookies
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I would probably call these “Blondies with Chocolate Chips” but who am I to change a recipe title? Don’t let the name fool you–aside from the fact they are baked in cupcake tins, they are nothing like a cupcake–they are buttery and chewy like a blondie. And they are quite delicious. So much in fact, one of my coworkers said these may be his new favorite and ranked them up there with cake balls. I know!
As you can see from the picture, mine are ugly. I omitted the nuts in the topping so I was left with a goopy chocolate chip mixture (which tastes delicious just looks sort of blah). Also, I was out of mini chips so I had to use regular size and I think they are entirely too large for the petite size of the cupcake/muffin/cookie. All that aside, I’d still eat them. In fact, I uh, may have had a few.
Photos of the process here.
Cupcake Ingedients
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
1/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed light brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 large egg
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
Cupcake Preparation
Preheat oven to 350°. Line miniature muffin pans and coat with cooking spray.
Beat butter and sugars until creamy. Add vanilla extract and mix well. Add egg and beat until blended.
In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Add to butter mixture, mixing just until combined.
Spoon about 1 & 1/2 teaspoons batter into each muffin cup. Bake for 10-12 minutes.
Topping Ingredients
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1 large egg
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup coarsely chopped pecans
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Topping Preparation
Beat brown sugar, egg, and salt until blended. Stir in chocolate chips, pecans, and vanilla.
After cupcakes have been baked, spoon topping mixture over each cupcake. Bake for 8-10 more minutes.
Makes about 3 dozen cupcakes.
Recipe from Bake or Break.
Brown Sugar Brownies
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I wanted to bake, but when I went through my pantry, 
I realized I was completely out of granulated sugar (I know, for shame!). So, I searched online for an easy recipe using only brown sugar and since I was feeling lazy, I also wanted something that could be made in one bowl, and didn’t require scooping, frosting, or anything else that required much effort. (Maybe I should rename this blog baking for lazy people.)
And I found these. They are spectacularly easy, have a wonderful caramely flavor, and are nice and gooey. They most definitely did not disappoint. I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 13″ x 9″ pan with no problem, and used chocolate chips instead of nuts. I think this may be one of my new favorite recipes.
Ingredients
1 1/3 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Preparation
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lightly grease a 9 x 9 x 1-3/4 inch pan.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt and set aside. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth. - Stir in the flour mixture and the nuts until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan.
- Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly. While still warm, cut into bars with a sharp knife.
Recipe from All Recipes.
Brownie Peanut Butter Cups
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When I first saw this recipe, I decided these brownies had to be made now. Unfortunately, it was close to 100 degrees in LA this past week, and there was no way in hell I was 
about to turn my oven on. So, I had to wait for the temps to cool down.
Fortunately for me (and my coworkers), the weather this week has been much more bearable, thus allowing me to turn on my oven to make these brownies. Which by the way, are good. Very good. Looking at them one might think SUGAR RUSH!!!, but they’re not terribly sweet, and the saltiness from the peanut butter center (oh yes, they have peanut butter inside) is a really nice contrast. I love sweet and salty together.
I think next time I make these, I will use mini muffin tins and make them bite size. Other than that, I wouldn’t change a thing. Except perhaps eat them while they’re still hot with a nice scoop of ice cream. Mmmm.
Photos of the process here.
Ingredients
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 tablespoon water
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 large egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup peanut butter chips plus about 1/3 cup more for garnishing
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips plus about 1/3 cup more for garnishing
3/4 cup creamy peanut butter
Preparation
- Preheat oven to 350°. Spray or grease 12 muffin cups.
- In a large microwave-safe bowl, combine sugar, butter, and water. Microwave on high for 1 minute or until butter is melted. Stir in 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips until melted. Stir in egg and vanilla extract. Add flour and baking soda, stirring until blended. Allow to cool to room temperature. Then, stir in 1/2 cup each peanut butter chips and semi-sweet chocolate chips. Spoon batter by heaping tablespoonfuls into muffin cups.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until top is set and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out slightly wet. Place pan on wire rack. Centers of brownies will fall upon cooling. If not, tap centers with the back of a teaspoon to make a hole.
- Place peanut butter in a small microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 45 seconds, then stir. While brownies are still hot, spoon about a tablespoon of peanut butter into the center of each brownie. Top with semi-sweet chocolate chips and peanut butter chips. Cool completely in pan.
Recipe from Bake or Break.
Chocolate Caramel Brownies
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It’s rainy and cold here, and I wanted to bake but didn’t want to make anything complicated. I sorted through my messy recipe folder and decided today was the perfect day for a somewhat “cheat” recipe. Yes, it calls for a box mix. I know, for shame! Reading through the recipe, it appeared very simple so I decided to give it a go.
Well, apparently I wasn’t paying enough attention and somewhat messed up the caramel. When the recipe said to add the “remaining evaporated milk” to the caramel, I added the rest of the can, not the rest of the 1 cup it called for. Whoops. Fortunately, I realized this as the caramels were (not) melting, so I dumped out a large portion of the milk and continued with the melting. I think there was still too much in there, because the caramel was a little runny, but it definitely tastes good!
Ingredients
1 pkg. (18.25 oz.) chocolate cake mix
1 cup chopped nuts
1 cup NESTLÉ® CARNATION® Evaporated Milk, divided
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted
35 (10-oz. pkg.) caramels, unwrapped
2 cups (12-oz. pkg.) NESTLÉ® TOLL HOUSE® Semi-Sweet Chocolate Morsels
Preparation
Preheat oven to 350° F.
Combine cake mix and nuts in large bowl. Stir in 2/3 cup evaporated milk and butter (batter will be thick). Spread half of batter into ungreased 13 x 9-inch baking pan.
Bake for 15 minutes.
Heat caramels and remaining evaporated milk in small saucepan over low heat, stirring constantly, until caramels are melted. Sprinkle morsels over brownie; drizzle with caramel mixture.
Drop remaining batter by heaping teaspoon over caramel mixture.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes or until center is set. Cool in pan on wire rack. Cut into 24 squares.
My notes:
- Unwrapping the damn caramels takes about as much time as making the brownies. Seriously.
- Your caramel will probably look different, unless you mess up like I did.
Recipe from VeryBestBaking.com.
