brownies

One Bowl Brownies

I’ve made these brownies 3 times in a weeks time. My family loves them! So chocolaty and fudgey and easy to make! One bowl and a spoon is all that is needed. And since it’s Christmas time, you can add these quickly to your holiday dessert tray or cookie exchange! Or, just make them for yourself. No shame. Let’s get started!

What you will need:

8 x 8 inch square pan lined with foil and sprayed with non-stick spray

1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, stir together cocoa, butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, stirring well. Add in vanilla and salt. Stir in flour until just combined. Fold in chocolate chips.

Pour into prepared bake pan, smoothing out the edges and bake for 18-22 minutes. Allow to cool a few minutes before lifting out of pan and cooling completely.

Slice and enjoy! Store covered at room temperature or in the fridge.

White Chocolate Brownies

Ooey Gooey Chewies! That’s what my house is calling these brownies! They are so good, exactly what I have been craving. Basically a brownie but made with white chocolate chips instead of semi sweet chocolate or dark chocolate. So quick and easy to make, the perfect anytime dessert or snack. Oh, and the best part? You only need 1 bowl and 1 spoon which makes for easy clean up!

What you will need:

8 inch square baking dish lined with parchment paper

1/2 cup unsalted butter
6 oz. white chocolate chips
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large microwavable bowl, melt the butter and chocolate together in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring well after each time until completely melted. Stir in sugar, salt and vanilla until combined. Stir in eggs until incorporated. Stir in flour.

Pour into prepared bake dish and bake for about 30 minutes. Allow to cool a bit before taking out of bake dish and cooling completely on a wire rack. Cut and enjoy!

Store covered at room temp or in the fridge.

Small Batch Brownies!

Yum! Who doesn’t love a delicious, warm, gooey brownie?! These are super good and easy to make and guaranteed not to have any leftovers! So if you need a dessert for 2-5 people, here you go! Small batch brownies are perfect for a quick little gathering or dessert for movie night with the kids (or a date!). Serve warm with some vanilla ice cream on top and you are good to go… Oh and the best part, one bowl and one spoon is all you need for easy clean up! Let’s get to baking…

What you will need:

Small loaf pan (I used a 8.5 x 4.5 inch loaf pan) greased and lined with parchment paper hanging over the sides.

2/3 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup sugar
6 tablespoons cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
6 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 tablespoons water
1 large egg

Note: Feel free to add chopped nuts or chocolate chips!

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, sugar, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Add in melted butter, vanilla, water and egg and stir until fully combined. Pour into prepared pan and smooth out the top evenly.

Back for 18-22 minute. Allow to cool a bit before pulling out by the parchment paper and cooling completely on a wire rack.

Serve right away, warm! Store in an airtight container. Enjoy!

Lunch Lady Brownies

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Oh boy! Chocolate lovers unite! Who knows why these are called Lunch Lady Brownies?! I’m guessing it’s what we had in the cafeteria at school back in the day? Or maybe they even still have them? All I know is, they are tasty! And the frosting is what does it for me. So gooey and delicious 🙂 This is a great brownie recipe for any occasion and I love that it makes a lot. Or you can simply halve it.

So, let’s go get our hair nets on and become lunch ladies! Actually, I kind of see myself as a lunch lady in the future 😉 Who knows! For now, let’s just bake…

What you will need:

13 x 9 inch baking dish lined with foil and then sprayed with non-stick spray

1 cup unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
4 teaspoons vanilla extract

Chocolate Frosting

1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1/4 cup 2% milk
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2-3 cups powdered sugar (depending on how sweet you want it, I used 2 and was happy)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, beat melted butter and cocoa powder until smooth. Add in flour and sugar and beat until just combined. Beat in eggs and vanilla until just combined. Do not over mix.

Pour into prepared bake dish. The batter will be thick, smooth out evenly to all sides of the pan. Bake for 22-25 minutes. Let cool for 15 minutes before frosting.

To make the frosting, beat all ingredients together until smooth. Pour over warm brownies. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.

Cover and store in the fridge. Enjoy!

I actually like them cold but you can bring to room temperature before serving.

Peppermint Brownies

Another perfect Christmas recipe for the books! These brownies go perfect with hot chocolate on a cold winter night while decorating the Christmas tree or watching a movie. Maybe even leave one out for Santa on Christmas Eve! I’m sure he would appreciate it with a glass of milk 😉 Gooey chocolate with a hint of peppermint. Heavenly.

What you will need:

8 x 8 square bake pan lined with parchment paper

6 oz. semi-sweet chocolate coarsely chopped
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon peppermint extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Dash of salt
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
1/2 cup Andes mint chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. Combine the butter and chocolate in a glass bowl and melt in microwave in 30 second intervals, stirring after each time. Pour into a larger bowl and whisk in both sugars. Once cooled to room temperature, whisk in eggs and both extracts until combined. Set aside.

In another bowl, whisk together the flour, salt and cocoa powder. Stir into the wet ingredients until you still see some flour (you do not want to overmix the batter). Stir in the mint chips. Pour batter evenly into prepared pan and bake for 25-30 minutes.

Allow to cool completely before cutting into squares. Store covered at room temp. Enjoy!

Triple Chocolate Chip Brownies

 

Yum!!! Milk chocolate, dark chocolate and white chocolate all come together in this chewy, delicious brownie! I found the bag of these morsels at Target. It’s from Nestle.

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There’s the picture, so you can head on over to the store and get these bad boys (err good, delicious, tasty boys!). You can also obviously make cookies with these but when I wanted to bake I wanted to bake something quick. And cookies sometimes can take a while because you can only bake like 8 at a time. This is 18 minutes and you have an entire pan of brownies! So, here we go… start those ovens…

What you will need:

13 x 9 inch bake pan, greased

1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 2/3 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, melted
2 Tbsp water
2 large eggs
2 tsp vanilla
10 oz. bag of Triple Chip Morsels

Preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, stir together the butter, sugar and water. Add eggs and stir until combined. Stir in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture until just combined. Stir in 1 cup of the chocolate chips. Pour evenly into the prepared pan.

Note: The batter is pretty thick. I had to grease my hands and press down to get the batter to the sides and corners of the pan.

Sprinkle the remaining chocolate chips on top. Bake for 18-25 minutes. Allow to cool on wire rack before slicing and enjoying!

Chocolaty goodness!

Brownie Christmas Trees

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Thanksgiving is over so Christmas has officially exploded everywhere! And if you know me, you know I LOVE it! Time to blast those Christmas tunes, shop, drink hot chocolate and of course… bake! I saw these cute trees on Pinterest and thought they would be perfect and a lot of fun for my 4 year old. Super easy, super delicious. Done and done!

I used a box brownie mix but made my own green frosting. And then the stars are mini M&M’s, ornaments are jumbo Nonpareils, we also used sparkling sugar and then the trunks are pretzel sticks!

So, let’s get creative and start baking!

What you will need:

9 x 9 inch square pan lined with foil and then sprayed with non-stick spray
1 box brownie mix plus all ingredients to make (eggs, oil, water)
Sprinkles of your choosing
M&M’s or other star type topping of your choosing
Pretzel sticks (I’ve also seen them done with candy canes)
Green frosting

If making your own frosting:

1/4 cup unsalted butter at room temp
1 cup powdered sugar
Green food coloring

Make the brownies using whatever recipe you want. I just used Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies. Pour in prepared pan. Bake and allow to cool completely.

Take out of pan and remove foil. Place brownies on a cutting board and cut into triangles.

Here are my triangles. They are all different shapes and sizes because I did not plan out my cutting like I should have but also no 2 tree is the same in real life so…

I put my frosting is a Ziplock bag and piped it on. And then decorate! For the tree trunks I used half a pretzel stick and just sticked it in. Easy peasy.

Here’s my little guy helping me! He did such a great job 🙂

Store covered in a cool, dry place. As always, enjoy! Happy Christmas season!

Peanut Butter Chip Brownies

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Sooooo good. Peanut butter and chocolate is never a bad idea. I felt like having a gooey brownie so at our weekly Target trip, I picked up a bag of peanut butter chips for some added yumminess. These are really easy to make and of course even easier to eat. The recipe can be doubled if need be. So, go turn on your ovens and let’s get to baking!

What you will need:

8 inch square baking pan lined with foil

10 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
3/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup peanut butter cups (plus a handful for the top)

Preheat oven to 325 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl over simmering water, melt the butter, sugar, cocoa powder and salt stirring constantly. Set aside to cool for a minute or 2.

Stir in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, stirring well after each addition. Add the flour until combined. Fold in the peanut butter chips.

Evenly pour the batter into the prepared pan. Sprinkle with a handful of peanut butter chips. Bake for 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool completely before slicing and serving. Enjoy!

Store in an airtight container in the fridge or at room temp.

Brookies

Deciding on making brownies or cookies? Don’t know what to bring to that party this weekend? Introducing… Brookies. The brownie chocolate chip cookie. My favorite cookie right now and probably what I’ll be bringing to all my 2016 gatherings. They are so pretty and so delicious! Plan accordingly, though because they do take more time to make than a typical cookie. You have to make two different doughs, but it’s worth it! So, so worth it. I also love the chocolate chip cookie dough recipe and may make regular chocolate chip cookies using it.

Anyway… go get your aprons on and let’s start baking!

What you will need:

Cookie sheet lined with parchment paper

For the brownie side:

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the chocolate chip cookie side:

2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Dash of salt
10 tablespoons unsalted butter at room temp
2/3 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg
1 large egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups mini chocolate chips

First, make the brownie dough. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat butter with both sugars until smooth and creamy. I just used a hand mixer and it worked great. Beat in egg, yolk and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add in flour mixture until dough forms. Cover with plastic wrap and place in the fridge while you make the cookie dough.

To make the cookie dough, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside. In another large bowl, beat butter and both sugars until smooth and creamy. Again, I just used the hand mixer. Add in egg, yolk and vanilla and beat until well combined. Add in flour mixture until dough forms. Stir in chocolate chips. Cover with plastic wrap and place in fridge for 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Take out both doughs from the fridge. Depending on how many cookies will fit on your cookie sheet, portion both doughs into small balls. I made 8 cookies at a time so I made 8 brownie balls and 8 chocolate chip dough balls. Press together a brownie ball and a chocolate chip ball and roll together. Place on prepared cookie sheet and gently flatten the cookie. Make sure one side is brownie, the other is chocolate chip. Bake for 8-10 minutes. Refrigerate any remaining dough until ready to use again.

Let the cookies rest on cookie sheet for a minute before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. Enjoy!

Scrumptious, right?!

Yield: About 4 dozen cookies. Perfect for sharing!

Peanut Butter Swirl Brownies

Thats right. Peanut butter and ooey gooey chocolatey goodness come together in these brownies! So delicious. I mean, really, so good and I have nothing else to add. I made these because I was bored and wanted brownies. So let’s get to it. Start those ovens…

What you will need:

8 inch square or round pan, greased

For the brownies:

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup boiling water
1 cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
Dash of salt

For the peanut butter:

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/2 cup creamy peanut butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/3 cup powdered sugar

To make the brownies, preheat oven to 350 degrees fahrenheit. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and baking soda. Stir in half of the vegetable oil and the boiling water and mix until combined. Add in egg, the rest of vegetable oil and vanilla and mix until combined. Stir in flour and salt but do not over-mix. Pour batter into prepared pan and set aside.

To make the peanut butter, stir together butter, peanut butter and vanilla until nice and smooth. Stir in powdered sugar. Dollop over the brownie batter then swirl gently with a knife. Bake for about 35-40 minutes. Let cool completely on a wire rack. Refrigerate at least 2 hours before cutting and serving. Enjoy!