Adorable. Take it to work; chat with it until you need a snack. Then become one with your Bite-Sized Peanut Butter Crunch Brownie.
For the recipe, follow the directions for Girl Scout Tagalong Brownie Pie, except use a mini-muffin pan to bake your brownies.
Mini-muffin pans can do double-duty as mini-brownie pans!
Do I really need to say anything more than: Tagalong Brownie Pie? This recipe features Girl Scout Tagalong cookies, a ridiculously gooey peanut-butter-caramel layer, and toasted walnuts. And it’s one of my easiest recipes! PS – When Girl Scout Cookies are out of season, you can substitute another (preferably chocolate-coated) peanut butter cookie…like Little Debbie Nutty Bars or even Nabisco Nutter Butter cookies.
INGREDIENTS
With ingredients like this, how can you go astray?
So wonderful, but there are only 15 in a package. And, for me, that means 5 for Monday morning, 5 for Monday lunch, and 5 for Monday dinner. Woeful Tuesday. With this recipe, you can have enough to serve all week!
If Girl Scout Cookie season is over and you can't get Tagalongs, here are two fabulous peanut butter cookie alternatives! Little Debbie Peanut Butter Crunch Bars or Little Debbie Nutty Bars.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F. Toast your walnuts on a cookie sheet for about 5-6 minutes, until they’re slightly golden brown. Set aside to cool.
Make brownie mix with eggs, oil, and water, according to the directions on the box. I like to use the “extra egg” recipe, which is sometimes in fine print next to the “regular” recipe. That extra egg adds a little more loft and cakiness to the brownie. But that’s just my preference; you should build your own brownie world the way you like it. Pour brownie batter into two (2) well greased 9-inch pie pans.
This recipe makes two 9-inch brownie pies. One for me, one for you.
Since you’re using 2 pans, your baking time will be much shorter than the box instructs. (My box mix suggested a baking time of 35-40 minutes, but my brownie pies only needed 22-24 minutes to bake.) When a center-placed toothpick comes out nearly clean, that means your pies are done.
Yum. This is a happy moment.
When pies have cooled, put about 1/2 cup of peanut-butter-caramel dip on the surface of each pie. Spread it evenly. I intentionally avoided covering the outermost half-inch of brownie, the part where a pie would normally have a “crimp” in the crust. I thought it looked cute that way, plus it helped make serving a little easier.
Spread the love.
Using a walnut as a “stand,” prop up your cookies. This will make it easier and cleaner for your guests to grab those cookies and eat them with their fingers.
Who knew you could use a walnut as a cookie stand? (I did.)
Since there are 15 cookies in a Tagalong box, I put 8 cookies on one pie and 7 on the other. Add 1/2 cup of your toasted walnuts to each pie. I chopped my walnuts into large pieces.
This Tagalong Brownie Pie recipe would make any Girl Scout proud, and I’m sure your troop will love ‘em!
Here's another supah-delish take on this recipe. Use a mini-cupcake pan to make tiny brownies, "frost" with the peanut butter caramel, top with nuts, and garnish with a piece of peanut butter cookie. Finger-sized perfection!
Seriously. How cute is that? It's the best thing to have at work and just POP in your mouth. YUM!
It’s Easter season and time to make a brownie recipe that features those kooky, adorable Peeps marshmallow treats. Looky! It’s a brownie pond… Let’s jump in!
Thanks to Jaime Santillan for the adorable studio shot above. Jaime takes amazing photos.
Five-year-old Ella, my friend's daughter, is mesmerized by the peeps and the fish. Such a wonderful Easter moment here!
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Mix brownies as directed on box, using the “extra egg” version of the recipe. I also suggest using a 13×9 family-size box, as you’ll need as much brownie as possible to fill your trifle bowl.
Pour batter into a greased pan, bake as directed on box, and let brownies cool. You can do the next few steps while brownies are baking or while they are cooling.
Mix instant pudding with cold milk and about 3 drops of blue food coloring.
Pudding mix + milk + blue food coloring = An equation for pudding greatness
Whisk as directed on box.
Mmmm. Pond water never looked so delicious.
At first, your pudding may be blue-green rather than straight blue, because most light-colored puddings are a bit yellow-ish. Don’t worry; a few more drops of blue coloring will help. Whisk in a few more drops at a time until you’re happy with the color. After a few minutes of whisking, the pudding will be thick. Put it in the refrigerator while you do the next few steps.
Cut your jelly candies into fish shapes. Start by cutting the jelly in half.
Cut in half, revealing the SUPER-STICKY inside of the candy.
Then make a few cuts to create the appearance of a fish body and tail fin. My advice is: “Cut away everything that doesn’t look like a fish.” If that’s not enough direction for you, remember that all you need to do is cut away 4 tiny triangles. Follow the 4 easy steps below.
Cut #1: Create the top of the body and top of the tail.
Cut #2: Create the bottom of the body and bottom of the tail.
Cut #3: Create a notch in the tail.
Cut #4: If you're feeling particularly chipper, cut a smile into the fishie's face.
One by one, stick your fish onto the inside of the trifle bowl, about 1 inch above the bottom. The gooey jelly will serve as a very strong adhesive against the glass.
"Hi, I'm a green fish!" "Hi, I'm an orange fish!" "Do you smell brownies?" "Yep!"
Cats like this recipe. A lot.
Here's what your ring of fish should look like.
Crumble one-third to one-half of your cooled brownies into the trifle bowl. Set aside the remaining one-half to two-thirds of brownie to use in a higher layer.
Try to resist the urge to scarf those brownies. You'll need all those crumbles to fill up your trifle bowl.
It’s OK to use bigger brownie chunks in the center of the bowl, but when you get near the fish, use fine, small crumbles to fit in the crevices between the fish. It will make your fish stand out better.
By using smaller crumbles near your fish, you will help those cute little fishy features (fins, smiles) stand out better.
Get in the frig’. (Not literally. Don’t be silly.) Get out the blue pudding and pour it in an even layer over the brownie crumbs.
Yum. I love pudding and brownie together.
It's starting to get REALLY CUTE in that dish!
Add another layer of fish.
More fish = more awesome!
Add the rest of your crumbled brownies.
Again, be sure you use the finer brownie crumbles near the side so you can clearly see the outline of your fishy masterpieces.
Add 3-4 drops of blue food coloring into the Cool Whip. Mix. You can add more coloring until you achieve the color you want for your pond surface.
You could use plain white Cool Whip for your pond surface, but I liked the idea of adding some more color.
Pour 90% of the blue Cool Whip onto your brownie surface.
Reserve about 10% of the Cool Whip so you can add some extra color.
In the remaining 10% of Cool Whip, add 1 or 2 more drops of blue color. Don’t mix it in. Instead, spoon the unmixed blob of Cool Whip and color onto the top of your pond.
Here is how you make pretty blue ripples on your pond.
Without mixing too much, use a spoon to make round, sweeping swirls on your pond surface. The food coloring will create a nice medium-blue ripple in your light-blue pond water. Cute!
The ripples are there, but what's missing? Something to swim on them!
Add your marshmallow Peeps as floating decor on the surface of your Easter pond.
Aww. These little darlings are just icing on the cake.
My Peeps looked like they needed company, so I also added a few fresh leaves and flowers from my spring garden. Even the fish looked happy.
I hope you all have a happy springtime. This recipe is a great way to kick off the season with some "quality time with the kids."
The Brownie Waffle with Hazelnut-Cafe Whip. It's the best solution for when you need a brownie, but don't have 40 minutes to wait.
Happy National Waffle Day, everyone! It’s a FINE DAY for waffles, don’t you think? But if you REALLY want to celebrate, perhaps you should do so with a waffle that is super-special. And that would be Brownie Waffle with Hazelnut-Cafe Whip. It’s the most wafflicious way to celebrate your day.
I’m stating the obvious here: A 7.5-ounce box of Samoas Girl Scout Cookies just is not enough. They’re too delicious to stop eating after only 1 or 2 cookies. Seriously, I can pound down half of that box in one sitting. So I made a brownie recipe that stretches out the coconutty delight of the Samoas, making enough for an entire party!
Oh, the coconutty deliciousness of the Samoas Girl Scout Brownie.
INGREDIENTS - IF YOU LIKE SAMOAS -
Here are the ingredients for those who LIKE Samoas. (If you LOVE them, you may want to use the ingredients listed below.)
INGREDIENTS - IF YOU LOVE SAMOAS -
DIRECTIONS
Mix together brownie mix, eggs, oil, and water as directed on box. Pour batter into greased pan.
If you like Samoas: Pour condensed milk into a bowl. Melt square of unsweetened chocolate and mix it in.
If you love Samoas, open your tub of caramel and stir it until it’s smooth.
Set aside half of the chocolate-milk mixture (or caramel). Pour the other half on top of the brownie batter.
Pour HALF of your gooey mixture of choice onto the unbaked batter. Save the other half for later.
Swirl it in with a knife.
This is ALMOST the funnest part.
Lick the knife. You know you gotta do it.
THIS is the funnest part.
Bake as directed on box. While baking, chop up the Samoa cookies into pieces.
Seems like a tragedy. But soon, you'll be happy again.
After brownies come out of the oven, let them cool if you have time. If you’re pressed for time, you can move on, but you may have a pretty gooey dessert on your hands. Drizzle the other half of your goo (either caramel or the milk-chocolate mixture) over the top.
Most important to remember at this stage: Do not drool on your own brownies.
Now, if you want toasted pecans in your recipe, add them on top of the sticky goo. If you want toasted coconut in your recipe, add that instead.
Mmm, pecans/coconut flakes are so much better when they are toasted vs when they are raw.
Top it all off with the chopped Samoas Girl Scout Cookies.
Cookie becomes garnish.
If you want a more “set-up” brownie, you can chill the pan in the refrigerator before cutting and serving.
Ridiculously delicious. Sticky. Nutty. Caramelly. And, using this brownie recipe, you’ll turn a 7.5-ounce box of Samoas Girl Scout cookies into more than 3 pounds of giddy, gooey delight. Dive in!
Every spring, the Easter Bunny ushers in both Girl Scout Cookies and the Samoas Brownie. Enjoy.
These green, mint-abulous St. Patrick’s Day brownies will wink and say, “Top o’ the mornin’ to ye.”
Serve them for a Saint Patrick’s Day party or anytime. They’re as rich, cool, and refreshing as the ice cream that donated its namesake. And they have a frosty crunch! You’ll want two scoops, for sure.
INGREDIENTS
BATTER
1 box brownie mix
(For this recipe, I used Duncan Hines Chewy Fudge Family Size)
Eggs, oil, and water as called for on the box
TOPPING
1 tub vanilla frosting
(For this recipe, I used Duncan Hines Creamy Home-Style)
2 tsp mint extract, more or less to taste
Green food coloring, about 4-5 droplets
6 oz green swirl mint candy (like Brach’s Spearmint Discs)
6 oz (about 1/2 bag) miniature chocolate chips
(For this recipe, I used Nestle Semi-Sweet Mini Chips)
DIRECTIONS
Mix batter ingredients and bake according to box instructions. Allow to cool.
In the meantime, add mint extract to frosting and mix completely. Then add a few droplets of green food coloring and mix completely. You’ll need only 4 or 5 drops to get a good “minty” color. Set aside.
Unwrap mint candies and place in a zippered bag. Beat those pretty green candies senseless with something heavy — say, a rolling pin or a bowling ball, whichever is handy in your kitchen.
This will take a LOT of crushing because you want a lot of fine powder. If you start breaking through the zippered bag, use a second bag. And take pride in your enthusiasm.
Use a sieve to sift the mint powder from the small pieces.
Your goal is to have about 3/4 cup of fine minty powder and 1/4 cup of tiny fragments, no bigger than your pinky nail. Set aside the candy fragments to use as a garnish. Mix the powder into the frosting.
Add 3/4 cup of mini chips into the frosting and stir the frosting.
Spread frosting onto cooled brownies.
Top the frosting with a handful of mini chips.
Add as many of the candy fragments as you like, to create a crispy, crunchy, and appealing garnish for your Saint Patrick’s Day creation.
Saint Patrick would LOVE this brownie recipe.
Want a brownie, but you just can’t wait 40 minutes for baking time? Then you need a brownie recipe that takes (literally) 2 minutes to bake. And it’s a real show-stopper for last-minute guests who drop in!
Creative, fast, simple, and gorgeous. Crisp, buttery crust. Sweet, nutty topping. What more could you ask of a brownie recipe?
INGREDIENTS
Hazelnut-Cafe Whip
1 tsp hot tap water
1/2 tsp instant coffee
1 Tbsp hazelnut flavored syrup
2/3 c Cool Whip
1/4 c chopped hazelnuts, toasted (optional garnish)
Here are the ingredients you need for the Hazelnut-Cafe Whip topping.
Batter
1 c brownie mix (NOT the whole box)
1 egg
2 Tbsp oil
1/3 c milk
2-4 Tbsp butter or margarine (for coating the griddle)
Here are the ingredients you need for the batter.
DIRECTIONS
Make topping first. In a small bowl, put hot water then dissolve instant coffee in it. Add hazelnut syrup and mix completely. In a medium bowl, put 2/3 cup of Cool Whip. Add hazelnut-cafe mixture to the Cool Whip by gently folding it in.
Mix instant coffee into hot tap water, then add syrup and mix. Add that into your Cool Whip by gently folding.
Topping is done–isn’t the cafe-au-lait color just divine for this garnish? Refrigerate until your brownie waffles are ready to serve. If you have hazelnuts on hand, toast them in the oven for 5-6 minutes at 350 F so you can use them to “garnish your garnish.”
Now for the batter.
Heat waffle iron. Mix the 4 batter ingredients together until smooth; it will be thinner than a typical brownie batter. Grease cooking surface (either with cooking spray or with melted butter/margarine).
Mmmmm, put that golden stick right onto the sizzling-hot griddle -- both bottom and top. This will give you a sweet, crunchy crust! Don't skip this step, unless you want to see your waffle innards hanging from both sides of your waffler. Horrors.
Pour about 1/2 cup of batter onto the cooking surface, depending on how large your waffler is.
In 30 seconds, your kitchen is going to smell divine. In 3 more minutes, you'll be sitting down and stuffing your face!
Close lid. If your waffler has a “done” light, use that as a timer. Otherwise, count about 120 seconds. Open waffler, remove waffle with a fork, place onto a serving plate.
If you're efficient (and highly motivated), you've invested only about 5 minutes of time to get to this moment. And you're 1 minute away from shoving this mouthwatering masterpiece into your mouth. Keep moving!
Add a dollop of the gorgeous Hazelnut-Cafe Whip. . . I do believe it’s flirting with me!
Speechless. Drooling. It gets better.
Add toasted hazelnuts. And get ready to PASS OUT from sheer bliss.
Oh, joy. Does it get any better than this?
Serve immediately. Wait for the gasps! You should have enough batter for 4 to 6 giddy guests–or 2 very hungry but madly delighted guests.
Imagine being a kid, and you're having a typical crappy day at school. Then you go to lunch break, and THIS is in your lunchbox.
I admit that I am *not* the Great Definer of All Things Brownie. Not yet. However, as Global Brownie Ambassador, I do qualify as a voting super-power at the Brownie U.N. meetings. And at the recent Brownie G8 conference (held this year in Brussels, Belgium), I was asked to lead a new initiative in Global Brownie Creativity. As part of my new commitment to the G8, I’ve created a new recipe that is sure to create lunchbox cheers in all nations. Yet another way to create worldwide harmony through chocolate. The Belgians just love me. But I digress . . .
In my latest ambassadorial effort, I have deemed that a true Lunchbox Brownie shall meet two standards: 1) PACKABILITY–with no frosting, crumbs, or goo that shall muck up a well-packed lunch, and 2) CRAVEABILITY–with an appearance so drool-able that it shall induce extreme classmate jealousy within a range of two cafeteria tables, with a mug so lovable that it shall be completely nommed even if “the stupid apple” squished it. And it shall be a bonus if the recipe makes it easy to let the kids help.
Fun, fast, packable, craveable. Get ready for the best Lunchbox Brownie ever, as deemed by…me!
Giddy-licious happy-fun brownie ingredients
INGREDIENTS
DIRECTIONS
Get the kids! By hand or with a spoon, divide the dough into pieces about the size of a half-teaspoon.
Break your cookie dough into small, bite-sized pieces. The kids will love to help on this step.
Into a larger-sized greased pan (8×11 or 9×13 is a good size), evenly distribute half of the pieces. Save the other half of the dough pieces to put on top of the brownie batter.
Put HALF of your bite-sized dough pieces into a greased pan. Make sure you use a pan larger than 9x9 -- otherwise your brownies will be too thick to bake evenly.
Mix your brownie batter, using egg, oil, and water as directed on the box. I like to put one additional egg in my batter, to give a little more volume to the finished brownie–but that’s a personal preference.
Mix your batter by adding egg, oil, and water as directed on the box.
Pour all of your brownie batter into the pan, completely covering the cookie pieces.
Pour all of the brownie batter over the dough bites in the pan.
Now get the other half of the cookie dough pieces and evenly distribute them across the top of the batter, pushing them slightly down into the batter.
Cookie dough is at the bottom of the pan already. Now you get to put it on the top, too.
Bake brownies for about 20-25 minutes. It’ll look slightly puffed up and still glossy or gooey on top.
Get the M&M's ready!
Gently remove the pan from the oven and evenly sprinkle the M&M candies onto the ”still mooshy” crust. Work quickly so you can get the brownies back into the oven to finish baking.
Sprinkle love all over your half-baked brownies.
Use a spatula to slightly push the M&Ms into the crust. Work quickly, but be gentle.
Use a spatula to lightly push M&M's into the crust. Be gentle. And don't burn yourself. Return the pan to the oven to complete baking.
Quickly return the pan to the oven for an extra 15-30 minutes. (The total baking time will depend on how large your pan is.) When a toothpick comes out almost clean, remove your candy-colored brownies from the oven and let the pan cool for as long as your begging kids will allow. Then eat and pack. Or pack and eat. You’ll probably do both.
Behold, the key to all childhood dreams and to all adult wishes for world peace: The Lunchbox Brownie. Share it with someone you love today!
I love September because it reminds me of campfires and bonfires. And s’mores. But it can be hard to make a fire just any old time. My suggestion is to fire up your fall-time snacking with this gorgeous brownie recipe.
S'mores without the smoke in your eyes. These brownies are soft yet crunchy. Sweet and satisfying. Serving size = two brownies, no matter how big you cut them. ;-)
INGREDIENTS
1 box brownie mix
2 eggs
1/3 cup oil
6 Hershey’s chocolate bars, broken into smallest squares
1/3 cup butter or margarine (about 5 Tbsp)
1 bag marshmallows (about 16 ounces — or about 6 cups of the miniature marshmallows, which I prefer because they melt faster)
5-6 cups of Golden Grahams cereal
DIRECTIONS
Mix together the eggs, oil, and brownie mix. This batter will make your bottom layer. You want your brownie layer to be shallow, so pour your batter into a large greased pan (9×13 inches is great). If you don’t have a large pan, try using 2 small ones. Bake at 350 F for about 20-22 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out almost clean.
Remove brownies from the oven, and let them cool for a while. While they’re cooling, break your chocolate bars into the smallest-possible pieces (each piece should have one “Hershey’s” logo on it).
Though I have experimented with many kinds of chocolate over the years, when it comes to s'mores you kind of HAVE TO use Hershey's. Just one person's opinion.
Measure out 6 cups of mini-marshmallows and 5-6 cups of Golden Grahams cereal (if you use more cereal, you’ll have a thicker top layer; use less cereal and you’ll have a shorter but mallow-ier top layer).
If you’re a fan of Rice Krispies Treats, you’re going to love these next few steps. Melt your butter in a large (5-quart) pan over medium heat. When melted, add your marshmallows and stir constantly until they’re melted.
Oh, my. It's starting to get really good now.
Now comes the part where you must have your act together and work very quickly. So put on some appropriate music. Maybe Flight of the Bumblebee, Smells Like Teen Spirit, or whatever motivates you. Do these next 3 steps as quickly as you can: 1) mix the cereal into the melted marshmallows, 2) pour the still-warm cereal/marshmallow mixture onto your brownie crust, and 3) insert the Hershey’s pieces as you pat down the cooling cereal mixture before it sets up and gets harder to work with.
You will want to begin eating at this point. Resist, and keep hustling during this quickly moving phase of your recipe.
Ke-e-e-e-e-e-e-p moving! Once you pour the cereal onto your brownie crust, it starts cooling and hardening. Quickly insert the chocolate pieces in a "Stonehenge/Cadillac Ranch" fashion. As you go, pat the cereal down into a loosely compacted top layer.
S’mores should be messy, so don’t sweat the appearance too much. It will be lumpy, bumpy, and uneven. In fact, I really adore how pretty this pan of brownies is. Let it cool and set up for about 10-15 minutes. If you can wait, that is.
When you cut your s’mores brownies, be sure to use a very sharp serrated knife, as the cereal sets up into a hard, crunchy layer. A hard, crunchy, awesome layer. Here is the s’mores brownie in all its glory. As I said before, you will find that the serving size is 2 brownies, regardless of the size you cut them. (hee hee)
Who needs kindling and firewood when you can have the best part of a bonfire right in your kitchen?
To date, the Turtle Pretzel Brownie is my highest-ranking brownie recipe (as rated by coworkers at my regular desk job). Salty, sweet, rich, buttery. Resistance is futile.
INGREDIENTS
1 box brownie mix
Egg(s), oil, and water as directed on box
1 to 1.5 cups pecan halves
1 tub of caramel (eg, 16-oz tub of Marzetti Caramel Apple Dip)
1.5 to 2 cups tiny chocolate-covered pretzels (eg, 1 bag Nestle Flipz)
Here are suggested ingredients, though any brand will do (even the basic store brand). Prepare yourself for the toe-curling delight that is called Turtle Pretzel Brownie.
DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 F. Place pecan halves on cookie sheet in one layer and bake them for 5 to 7 minutes. Watch carefully so they don’t burn. There’s no need to flip the pecans over halfway through; they’ll taste just fabulous without the extra effort. Your kitchen will soon be wafting in a heavenly fog of toasted pecan bliss — and you will wonder why you never toasted your pecans before now. Try not to beat yourself up. Set pecans aside to cool.
As directed on box, prepare brownie batter and bake it. When done, remove from oven and allow pan to cool completely before next step. Keep roommates, spouse, children, and neighbors away during this crucial cooling process, as they might assume you’ve merely made “plain brownies” and begin eating them prematurely. Be vigilant.
When brownies are cooled, stir the tub of caramel dip until it’s smooth. Pour out entire 16-ounce tub, and spread it evenly over brownie crust.
Stir the caramel until it's smooth, and then spread it on the crust.
Put the toasted pecans on top of the caramel layer.
After caramel, layer on the pecans.
Then, on top of the nuts, place chocolate covered pretzels. Try to plan it so that, once brownies are cut, each brownie will have either one or two whole pretzels. (It’s hard to slice through a pretzel when you’re cutting the brownies for serving.)
Add the chocolate-covered pretzels. I get giddy just LOOKING at this picture.
BROWNIE_FAIL_ALERT: Do not use plain pretzels. They’re dry and will soak up the moist caramel–and that means no crunch. (Boo!) Also, for the same reason, don’t chop up your chocolate-covered pretzels. Your best bet is using small, whole, bite-sized, chocolate-covered pretzel bites, like Nestle Flipz.
Salty, sweet, buttery, caramelly craziness in your mouth! This recipe turns heads.
