Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting

My daughter had a difficult time deciding what she wanted for her birthday dessert.  At first she was thinking about cupcakes.  I think cheesecake might have even been mentioned.  But at the last minute she requested brownies with icing.  I found this recipe with the buttercream frosting and decided to go with it.  My daughter actually helped me make these the morning of her party.  She probably ate half of the chocolate mixture (pre-egg) and icing before these were done!  We served these as brownie ice cream sundaes with all the toppings on the side and a fruit platter.  My daughter loved these.  I'm not a huge chocolate lover and I found these to be REALLY chocolatey!  They are very rich and little squares were perfect. 

Chocolate Fudge Brownies with Chocolate Buttercream Frosting
recipe from Brown Eyed Baker

Yield: 12 to 16 brownies

Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 25 to 30 minutes
Total Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:

For the Brownies:
¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup unsalted butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
2 eggs
1 egg yolk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips

For the Frosting:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
¼ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
¼ teaspoon salt
1¼ cups powdered sugar
1 tablespoon milk
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons chocolate milk powder

Directions:
1. Make the Brownies: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8-inch-square baking dish and line with parchment paper, letting the excess hang over the edges. Butter the parchment paper; set aside.

2. In a small bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

3. Bring about an inch of water to a simmer in a medium saucepan. Place a medium, heatproof bowl on top of the saucepan (do not let it touch the water) and add the butter and unsweetened chocolate. Stir occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and whisk in the granulated and brown sugars. Whisk in the egg, the yolk, and the vanilla extract. Add the flour mixture all at once, and fold it into the chocolate mixture with a rubber spatula until combined. Fold in the chocolate chips.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a thin knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Allow to cool completely; meanwhile, make the frosting.

5. To Make the Frosting: Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter, cocoa powder, and salt on medium speed for about 3 minutes.

6. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and add the powdered sugar. Mix on low speed to incorporate the sugar, and while the mixer is running, slowly add the milk and vanilla extract. Gradually increase the mixer speed to medium-high, beating until smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.

7. In a small bowl, mix together the cream and the chocolate milk powder. Reduce the mixer speed to medium, and pour the cream mixture in a slow, steady stream and mix until thoroughly combined. You can add more powdered sugar a tablespoon at a time, if you would like a stiffer frosting.

8. Spread the frosting onto the cooled brownies, and cut into squares. Store brownies in an airtight container, or tightly wrapped, at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Family Rating:  1 1/2 thumbs up.

Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars

As I mentioned in yesterday's post our supper club theme this month was rice.  I picked dessert and yesterday posted this Rice Cheesecake with Praline Sauce.  Since I don't have much experience making cheesecake and wasn't sure how it was going to come out I wanted to have a back-up dessert.  Plus, our kids were at this dinner and even though my kids love cheesecake, not all children do.  So I wanted to also have a child-friendly dessert.  I saw these Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars and knew that if I didn't make them for supper club I was going to be making them at some point.  So I went for it.  Boy am I glad that I did! In Michelle's (Brown eyed Baker) blog post which you can find here she notes that the next time she made these she'd half the brownie recipe since the proportion of brownie to the other layers was too thick.  Since I hate doing math and trying to half recipes (especially when they're unequal amounts!) I decided to make the whole brownie recipe and split it up into two pans.  This meant extra brownies for us....yes!  This was definitely the right way to go and all the layers were evenly balanced out.  Just to note, the only slight change I made to this recipe was only using 1 1/2 cups of sugar in the brownie base.  Even that seemed a lot to me with all of the other sweetness going on with these bars.  1 cup of sugar could probably be enough.  These bars are so good!  Everyone at supper club loved them and I've been enjoying the leftovers for days.  My husband wanted to take them to work and I told him, "No way, I'm eating these!"  I do recommend chilling these bars.  I had left them out when we got to supper club and the chocolate top got pretty melty.  I've been eating the leftovers that have been chilled and refrigerating them helps the bar keep its shape and not become a gooey mess....and yes, they are just as tasty leftover! 

Marshmallow Crunch Brownie Bars
recipe VERY slightly adapted from Brown eyed Baker

Yield: 24 bars
Prep Time: 30 minutes
Cook Time: 25-30 minutes
Ingredients:

For the Brownie Base:
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2/3 cup unsalted butter
1¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
1-1/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon salt
4 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

For the Toppings:
1 bag (10½ ounces) miniature marshmallows
1½ cups milk chocolate chips
1 cup smooth peanut butter (don't use natural peanut butter)
1 Tablespoon unsalted butter
1½ cups Rice Krispies cereal

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease a 9x13-inch pan.

2. For the brownies: In a medium saucepan, melt the unsweetened chocolate, butter and ¾ cup of the semisweet chocolate chips over medium heat. Stir occasionally while melting. Set aside and cool for 5 minutes.

3. In a medium bowl sift the flour, baking powder and salt. Set aside. In a large bowl , whisk the eggs thoroughly. Add the sugar and vanilla and whisk until well blended. 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.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a cake tester inserted into the corner of of the pan comes out with moist crumbs.

5. Remove the brownies from the oven and immediately sprinkle the marshmallows over them. Return the pan to the oven for 3 more minutes.

6. Meanwhile, place the milk chocolate chips, peanut butter, and tablespoon of butter in a medium saucepan. Melt over low heat, stirring constantly, until completely melted. Remove from heat, add the Rice Krispies and mix well. Allow to cool for 3 minutes.

7. Spread the mixture evenly over the marshmallow layer. Refrigerate until chilled before cutting.

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up!

Snickerdoodle Brownies

My daughter started first grade on September 5th.  Yes, I know I'm very behind on posts here!  Lots of cooking, not enough time to post all the recipes.  I wanted to have a special snack for her (and my son) when she got home from school to celebrate her first day of school.  Both of my kids like cinnamon.  I find bars so much easier to make than cookies.  Although cookies have their benefits, like you can freeze some for another time.  Though thinking about it now, I probably could have frozen half of these bars instead of throwing them out a week later.  Unfortunately, we are just not a big dessert/treat eating family.  Don't get me wrong, the kids love cookies, cake, brownies, etc.  But my husband and I limit the consumption of such treats.  So, if I don't freeze some, or my husband doesn't take the extras to work to share, then more often than not, we end up throwing away a portion of my home-baked treats!  Well, back to these Snickerdoodle Brownies. I've made Snickerdoodle cookies which we've enjoyed.  These brownies were just as good.  You have to like cinnamon though!  Warm and moist right out of the oven....delicious!  I'm not a huge cinnamon lover but thought these were good.  The kids loved the special treat snack!

Snickerdoodle Brownies
recipe from One Perfect Bite

Yield:  20-24 squares

Ingredients:
2-2/3 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 teaspoon Kosher salt
2 cups packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, at room temperature
2 eggs, at room temperature
1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 tablespoons granulated sugar
2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9 x 13 inch pan.

2. Sift together flour, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt and set aside.

3. In large bowl, beat together butter, sugar, egg and vanilla until smooth.

4. Stir in flour mixture until well blended. Spread evenly in prepared pan using a greased spatula.

5. Combine white sugar and cinnamon in a little bowl. Evenly sprinkle cinnamon sugar mixture over top of batter.

6.  Bake 25-30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed. Cool slightly. While still warm, cut into squares with a sharp knife.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up.

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies

While I was making the Irish Car Bomb Cupcakes for the adults for my parent's St. Patrick's Day celebration I needed a child-friendly dessert.  I recently discovered that my kids love cheesecake.  I already knew they loved brownies.  So, I found this recipe in my stash of recipes torn out of magazines from long ago and decided to give these a try.  I put a drop of green food coloring in the cheesecake batter to make it look more holiday-ish.  Overall, I thought they were okay....really, have you ever eaten a bad brownie?  I think if I had my choice, I'd rather keep the two treats separate.   

Cheesecake-Marbled Brownies
from Gourmet, June 2007

Yield:  16

Active Time: 15 minutes
Start to Finish: 50 minutes (not including cooling)

Two adored classics come together in this dessert lover's superbrownie.

Ingredients:

For brownie batter:
1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, cut into pieces
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup sugar
2 large eggs
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

For cheesecake batter:
8 oz. cream cheese, well softened
1/3 cup sugar
1 large egg yolk
1/4 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

Make brownie batter:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Butter an 8-inch square baking pan. 

Heat butter and chocolate in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted.  Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined.  Whisk in flour until just combined  and spread in baking pan. 

Make cheesecake batter and bake brownies:
Whisk together cheesecake batter ingredients in a small bowl until smooth.  Dollop over brownie batter, then swirl in with a knife or spatula. 

Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes.

Serve warm or at room temperature.

Family Rating: 1 thumbs up.

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Marbled Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies

Today, March 1st is National Peanut Butter Lover's Day!  My family loves peanut butter!  I am way behind in my posts....I've cooked too much and I have more recipes than time to post them!  In honor of this day, I am sharing this recipe that I made for us for dessert on Valentine's Day. I had just bought some nutella and these caught my eye.  They seemed easy enough and our family loves the chocolate and peanut butter combination.  So I knew these would be a hit!

They looked really nice with the swirl!  Unfortunately, the peanut butter really overpowers in this recipe and we couldn't really taste the nutella very much.  However, they were nice and moist and of course we didn't mind the peanut butter flavor!  And really, who doesn't love homemade brownies?!!! 

Marbled Peanut Butter & Nutella Brownies
from Cookie Madness

Ingredients:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened
1 1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup peanut butter (I used crunchy)
2 large eggs
3/4 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Swirl Mixture:
1 1/2 oz dark or dark chocolate with hazelnuts, chopped
1/2 teaspoon butter
1/4 cup Nutella

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch square metal pan with non-stick foil.

In a mixing bowl, using medium speed and high speed of an electric mixer, beat butter and brown sugar until soft. Beat in vanilla and peanut butter, then add eggs and beat just until mixed in. Scrape sides of bowl and beat in baking powder and salt, making sure they are evenly distributed; Add flour and stir until it is mixed in. Spread peanut butter batter in pan.

Make swirl mixture. Melt chocolate and butter in a small microwave-safe bowl at 50% power. Alternatively, you may use a double boiler or bowl set over a pot of barely simmer water. Remove melted chocolate from heat and stir in Nutella. Drop spoonfuls of Nutella mixture over peanut butter brownie batter and drag a knife through to make a marbled pattern.

Bake on center rack for 30 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the side of the pan and center seems set. Cool pan on a wire rack. When brownies hit room temperature, chill them for an hour or so. Lift from pan and cut into squares.

Family Rating: 1 1/2 thumbs up!

Peppermint Crunch Brownie Bites

I saw these brownie bites on the two peas & their pod blog and knew I would have to make them.  These were a cinch to make because I cheated and used boxed brownie mix and added 1/4 teaspoon of mint extract to the batter! They are made in a mini muffin pan, so they're bite-sized. You can eat a bunch and not feel too guilty! I'm sure that Maria and Josh's recipe is amazing, but I was a little short on time.

Peppermint Cruch Brownie Bites
From food blog: two peas & their pod
Find the original recipe here:
http://www.twopeasandtheirpod.com/peppermint-crunch-brownie-bites/

Family Rating: 2 thumbs up! (chocolate and mint, of course it's a hit!)