Double Fail Brownies

Have you ever had one of those days in the kitchen when everything goes wrong?

We did.

It started with a to-do list that was just way too long for the amount of time we had.

I had both girls working on different things in the kitchen while I did 10 other things at once.

It wasn’t long before things started to fall apart.

Angel Girl was melting a package of chocolate chips and a package of butterscotch chips in the microwave – and it seized. Badly. There were 2 entire bags of chips ruined.

We almost cried.

I tried adding butter, shortening, and even milk before I finally got it back to a smooth consistency – but I had added so much that I wasn’t sure if it would harden up on the top of the bars. (After the fact – I know it would have been just fine – but at the time I was doing too many things to think clearly. )

I had Angel Girl start over again – this time with a double broiler – while I set out to figure out what to do with all this reclaimed chocolate.  It wouldn’t go to waste if I had to eat it all myself- with a spoon! (Which might have been my best idea all day!)

It took me a few minutes – but I finally decided to try to use it in brownies and researched until I found one that uses melted chocolate chips.

I just doubled the recipe and put it in a 9 X 13 pan.

Chocolate Chip Brownies

3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter
2 tablespoons of water
2 cups chocolate chips, divided
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

In a sauce pan combine 1 cup of chocolate  chips, sugar, butter, and water. Cook over medium heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and add vanilla.

Let cool for about 5 minutes before adding the eggs one at a time mixing well after each addition.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and salt. Add to the chocolate mixture. Stir in the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips.

Pour batter into a greased 9 x 9 inch prepared pan. Bake  at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

We let them cool before we cut into them – enjoying the rich chocolate goodness with a hint of butterscotch.

But wait there’s more.

I called these double fail brownies for a reason!

While Angel Girl was melting the chocolate chips, Dagmar was making an ice cream dessert that called for a cream cheese filling in the center. We were playing with a recipe and adapted it – and our communication wasn’t the best (Because I was busy saving the melted chocolate that didn’t really need to be saved!)

The original recipe called for milk to be added to the cream cheese, powdered sugar and Cool Whip. But as she mixed it up and poured it on top of the ice cream layer – it looked way too runny.

As I stood there with the decadent brownie in my hand, pondering the runny filling – I had a burst of inspiration!

We grabbed the dessert from the freezer, scraped the cream cheese layer off the ice cream layer (and yes it was still too runny) and poured it over the now cooled brownies. Instant frosting!

We put the whole pan in the fridge until the “frosting” hardened enough to eat.

Voila! A double fail brownie that turned out to be really tasty!

That’s a good thing – because after the confusing day I had – I needed more than one!

Enjoy!