Brownies, A Chocolate-Lover's Delight

Who doesn’t like brownies? Exactly...nobody. What’s not to like? They’re very quick and easy to make and they’re chocolate. End of story. Well, not completely the end of the story. You may be thinking brownies aren’t that quick to make but (true confessions here) I’m talking about making them from a mix. 

I have made brownies from scratch and even though I’m a cookbook author, I don’t like to waste time doing something that someone else has made easy and tastes as good as my homemade variety. Hence, I use a brownie mix. If you prefer to make them from scratch, go for it. But I’m going with Duncan Hines or Ghirardelli, two of my brownie-type best friends. 

What I do like to do sometimes is dress up my plain brownie mix brownies. That can make life exciting! Well, it can make my life exciting; doesn’t take much. 

One idea for perking up your brownies comes from Carol McLees. She says that her brownies always garner compliments and her brownie “trick” is to make the batter the night before she plans to bake them. She spreads it in the pan, covers the pan and lets it sit in the refrigerator over night. She also says that even if the mix says that it will fill a 13 x 9” pan, she uses two boxes, baking them at 325 degrees for 45-48 minutes. Watch the edges of the brownies and when they begin to pull away from the sides of the pan then they’re done. 

My favorite brownie addition is this great icing. It changes your box made brownies into something to write home about. Better yet, take some home and feed them to the folks. 

If using a brownie mix that contains no added chocolate pieces, etc., I like to stir in a handful of chocolate chips and/or chopped pecans.  

Brownies with Icing
ingredients: 

• your favorite brownie mix, enough for a 13x9” pan
• miniature marshmallows, at least 2 cups
• icing:
• ½ stick butter
• ⅓ cup cocoa powder
• 1 box 10x powdered sugar
• pinch of salt
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 1-3 Tb milk

prep:
Prepare brownies according to package directions.

As soon as the brownies are done, remove from oven and cover top of brownies with miniature marshmallows. 

Return pan to oven for 1 minute only. ( If you’re forgetful like I am, then don’t decide to walk away and go do something else, just stand there in front of the oven for 1 minute.  It will seem tedious, but you can do it.)

Remove pan from oven and allow the brownies to cool completely. Then spread icing over all. 

Icing:
In a medium saucepan melt butter and then sift cocoa powder onto the butter and stir to combine. Remove from heat.

Sift the powdered sugar and salt into a mixing bowl.

With an electric mixer mix the cocoa mixture and the vanilla into the powdered sugar.

Gradually add enough milk for it to become spreading consistency

Spread the icing over the marshmallow-topped brownies.  Yum!