Brownie Batter Dip

Do you remember the Brownie Batter Dip I told you about last week?

The one that was so good we couldn’t stop eating?

The one we dipped our strawberries and pretzels in?

And spoons.

And our fingers.

And even twizzlers?

Yep – that one.

Here’s the recipe.

Your welcome. 🙂

Brownie Batter Dip

8 ounces cream cheese
1/2 cup butter
2-3 cup powdered sugar
5 tablespoons flour
5 tablespoons cocoa
2 tablespoons brown sugar
3 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat cream cheese and butter. Add 2 cups powdered sugar and 1 tablespoon of milk. Mix well.

Add flour, cocoa, brown sugar, vanilla and another tablespoon of milk. Mix together.

Add powdered sugar and/or milk until the dip is the desired consistency.

Serve with pretzels, sugar cookies, strawberries, fingers or spoons.

Caramel Bars

I really should call these “panic bars” because I made them in a panic!

It was about 10:30 in the morning and I realized I had company coming at 1:00 – and that company didn’t like chocolate. (Poor kid.)

All of my favorite go-to quick recipes include chocolate (of course!)

To make matters worse – I was out of butter and margarine.

A quick thumb-through my cookbook collection yielded this recipe – and a quick perusal of the pantry yielded the needed ingredients.

I was back in business!

With just five ingredients – not only were they fast to make – but they were really rich and gooey and yummy!

Caramel Bars

1 package dry yellow cake mix
2 cups quick- cooking oatmeal (uncooked)
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup vegetable oil
1 egg
1- 12.5 ounce jar caramel ice cream topping

Mix together the cake mix, oatmeal, and brown sugar. Add the oil and egg; mix well. Spread half of batter in to a greased 9 x 13 pan. Press a ridge around the edge; then spread with caramel topping. Sprinkle remaining batter on top. Bake 30 minutes ate 350 degrees.

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at At the Well and Tasty Tuesday at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam.

Ho Ho Bars

This recipe has been my nemesis.

My good friend Lorine first served us a batch of these yummy bars several years ago – and even shared the recipe.

I’ve been trying ever since to duplicate them – but my filling never got to the heights of fluffy wonderfulness that hers did.

Until now. 🙂

I made these beauties for our 4H Pizza Party and sent all the kids home in a sugar induced frenzy. I’m sure their moms love me.

And – considering the fact that they contain a whopping pound of butter and a full 4 cups of sugar – I’m sure that you all will love me too!

One more warning – these made a large pan – so either have a 4H Club of kids waiting to help you eat these or half the recipe!

Ho Ho Bars

Brownie Layer:

1 cup butter or margarine
1 cup water
4 Tablespoons cocoa
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda

Filling:

1 – 1/2 cup milk
5 Tablespoons flour
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup utter or margarine, softened
1 cup Crisco
2 teaspoons vanilla

Frosting:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1/2 cup milk
1 cup chocolate chips

Start with the brownies. In a saucepan bring the butter,cocoa and water to a boil. Remove from heat and add flour, sugar, and salt, mixing completely. Add eggs, milk, vanilla, and baking soda, stirring thoroughly.

Pour into a greased 12 x 18 inch jelly roll pan and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely.

As soon as the brownies are in the oven – start the filling by whisking the flour and milk together in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat until it forms a thick paste. Cool.

Beat the sugar, margarine, Crisco, and vanilla until creamy. Add cooled paste and continue beating on high for seven minutes – yes that’s 7 minutes.

Spread on the cooled cake and refrigerate for 1 hour.

After an hour, move on to the final step – the frosting. In a saucepan, heat the the sugar, butter and milk to boiling. Boil 2 minutes. Remove from heat and add chocolate chips. Stir until melted and quickly pour over the filling and refrigerate.

I would recommend keeping these in the fridge – the filling just stays firmer there. I would also cut these into small bars – there’s a reason my kids have nicknamed them “Diabietic Coma Bars”!

Enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tasty Tuesday over at Balancing Beauty and Bedlam, Tempt My Tummy Tuesday over at At the Well, and Tuesdays at the Table over at All the Small Stuff.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Snicker Brownies

Time with my family means chocolate – lots of chocolate.

Our Christmas celebration over Labor Day was no exception.

The girls and I thought long and hard to decide what to bring. We were anxious to try something new – but with the rush to get packed for that trip and plan for our big western adventure – we didn’t plan well.

Dagmar picked out 2 different recipes, but we didn’t have the right ingredients for either. (I can’t believe I ran out of baking cocoa – I always have baking cocoa – it’s a staple!)

We somehow managed to gather enough working brain cells between us to come up with a yummy substitution.

We took a favorite brownie recipe, substituted some of the butter for peanut butter and added chopped Snicker bars.

These we incredible when hot from the oven and were enjoyed all weekend. While not quite as decadent as my all-time favorites Peacemakers – they were a fast and yummy fill-in!

Peanut Butter Chocolate Snicker Brownies

1 – 3/4 cups semi-sweet chocolate morsels, divided
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, cut into pieces (or margarine)
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup white sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3 large Snicker bars

Preheat oven to 350° F and grease a 13 x 9-inch baking pan.

Blend flour, sugar, and baking soda in a medium bowl and set aside.

Melt 3/4 cup of chocolate chips, butter, and peanut butter in a large bowl in the microwave, stirring often.

Add in eggs and mix until blended. Add dry ingredients and mix until blended. Stir in vanilla, remaining chocolate chips and 1 chopped Snickers bar. Spread into baking pan.

Bake for 18 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with the remaining 2 chopped Snickers bars. Bake for another 2 minutes. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Cut into bars and enjoy!

I’ve linked this post up with Tasty Tuesday at Beauty and Bedlam and Tuesdays at the Table at All the Small Stuff.

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!

Caramel – Pecan Brownies aka Peacemakers

These brownies have some memories attached to them!

Many, many Christmas’s ago (almost 20 I think!) my sister brought home a tall, blond fella that she had taken a shine to.

Seems he liked her just fine too – and a few years later he married her and they’ve been together every since.

But back to that first Christmas – this tall blond fella brought along some gooey wonderful brownies to share. I don’t know if he was trying to win “brownie points” (sorry – I couldn’t resist!) or even if my sister tipped him off to how much the entire family loves chocolate – but at any rate – these were a BIG hit.

And have been ever since.

Our family calls them “Peacemakers” – although the last piece has been known to cause conflict!

Peacemakers (Caramel-Pecan Brownies)

1 box German chocolate cake mix
1 bag of chocolate chips (12 ounces)
1 bag (14 oz.) Kraft caramels
1 small can evaporate milk (6ounces)
1 package of pecans (you can substitute walnuts)
3/4 cup margarine (softened)

Combine the cake mix, margarine, 1/3 cup of the milk. Stir in the nuts. Spread 1/2 of this mixture in the bottom of a greased 9 x 13 inch pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 6 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the caramels and the rest of the milk (1/3 cup) in the microwave.

Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the brownie base and pour the caramel over the top. Put the rest of the cake mix on the top in spots and pat down.

Bake for 15-18 minutes.

Cool thoroughly before cutting.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Sheet Cake Brownies

I was feeding the multitudes – again – and needed a sheet cake brownie.

But I wanted a rich thick brownie, not the cake-like brownies that I associate with one baked in a sheet cake pan.

But the recipes I found all called for almost a pound of butter! Sorry – but I am way to cheap and calorie conscious for that.

So I improvised.

I substituted peanut butter for some butter called for. The result? A really yummy peanut butter lovers dream brownie with a hint of nutrition! Those teenage boys loved them!

Chocolate Peanut Butter Brownies

3/4 cup butter or margarine, softened
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup baking cocoa
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cup (12-ounce package) peanut butter chips
1 cup chocolate chips

Heat your oven to 350 degrees. Grease 15-1/2 X 10-1/2 X 1-inch jelly-roll pan. In large mixing bowl beat butter, peanut butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Add the eggs and vanilla; mixing well.

In a separate bowl combine flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Gradually blend into creamed mixture. Stir in chips.

Spread batter into prepared pans and bake 20 minutes or until set. Cool completely; cut into bars.

Makes about 4 dozen bars.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Brownies

In my continual quest for the perfect brownie, my sister shared this contribution.

A cocoa brownie, these are still very gooey and rich!

They get extra points for having a frosting layer as thick as the brownie layer!

They are most definitely a contender – and disappeared very quickly around here!

Rich Chocolate Brownie

1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup butter melted
1/2 cup flour
1/3 cup baking cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt

Frosting:

3 tablespoons baking cocoa
3 tablespoons melted butter or margarine
2 tablespoons warm water
1 teaspoon instant coffee granules
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, eggs and vanilla until creamy. Add butter and mix well.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt. Add to the batter and mix well.

Pour the mixture into a greased 8 inch square baking pan and bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes. remove from the oven when a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool completely on a wire rack.

For frosting, combine the cocoa and the butter. In a small cup, dissolve the coffee granules in the warm water and add it to the cocoa mixture. Stir in the powdered sugar until smooth. Frost the brownies.

Enjoy!

Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

An unexpected visit by my in-laws provided just the excuse I needed to try these brownies. My father-in-law loves chocolate and my mother-in-law loves raspberries – a perfect combination!

These brownies were fast to make and came out super moist and yummy! I added ice cream and raspberry sauce to dress them up for “company”.

Raspberry Brownies

1 cup four
3/4 cup cocoa
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter or margarine (2 sticks)
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
3/4 cup seedless raspberry jam
2 teaspoons vanilla

Sift together flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt.

Melt butter over medium heat. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar.

Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Stir in jam and vanilla, whisking until well mixed.

Stir in the flour mixture until just blended. Spread batter into a greased 9″ by 13″ pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes at 350 degrees.

Cool and serve with a scoop of ice cream and raspberry sauce.

Raspberry Sauce

2 cups crushed raspberries (red or black, strawberries work as well, can use frozen fruit)
1 1/2 cup sugar (I used only 1 cup)
1/2 cup cold water
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon butter or margarine

Dissolve the cornstarch in the cold water. Mix into the berries and sugar. Cook over medium heat until the mixture thickens. Stir in butter. Cool and serve over cheesecake, ice cream, brownies, or eat it with a spoon! 🙂

Enjoy!