Best-Ever Brownies 6 Ways

Submitted by hungrykitten

"From Woman's World mag 8/3/09."

 

• Ready In: 45mins
• Ingredients: 9
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 2⁄3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon baking powder
• 3⁄4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1⁄2 cup butter
• 1 1⁄4 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 inch square baking pan with enough foil to overhang two sides by 2 inches; coat with cooking spray. Combine flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder; reserve.
2. In microwave safe bowl, microwave chocolate chips and butter on high in 20 second intervals, stirring, until melted. Whisk in sugar, eggs and vanilla until blended. Stir in flour mixture until smooth.
3. Spread in pan. Bake 30-35 minutes or until pick inserted into center comes out clean. Cool on rack 15 minutes. Use foil to lift from pan. Cool completely before cutting.
4. Triple Peanut Brownies: Quarter 16 mini Snickers bars; stir into batter with 1 cup peanut butter M & M's. Bake 35-40 minutes. Stir 2 tablespoons creamy peanut butter into 1 can (16oz) vanilla frosting until smooth. Spread over cooled brownies. Sprinkle with additional M & M's and Snickers pieces.
5. German Chocolate Brownies: Stir 1 cup pecan pieces and 1/2 cup sweetened, flaked coconut into batter. Bake 35-40 minutes. Spread cooled brownies with 1 can (15 oz) coconut-pecan frosting. Sprinkle with 1/4 cup pecan pieces and 2 tablespoons sweetened, flaked coconut. Drizzle with 1/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips (melted).
6. Strawberry & White Chocolate Brownies: Stir 1/2 cup low suagr strawberry preserves, then 3/4 cup white chocolate chips into batter. Bake 40-45 minutes. Spread cooled brownies with 1 can (12 oz) whipped strawberry frosting. If desired, garnish with strawberries.
7. Grasshopper Brownies: Quarter 10 Double Stuf Oreo Mint cookies; stir into batter. Bake 35-40 minutes. Cut into bars; top with 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting and garnish with addditional cookie pieces.
8. Espresso Brownies: Add 3 tablespoons instant espresso coffee powder and 1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest to butter mixture. Stir 3/4 cup mini chocolate chips into batter. Bake 40-45 minutes. Spread cooled brownies with 1 can (16 oz) milk chocolate frosting. If desired, garnish with chocolate curls and lemon zest twists.

Reviews

[Baby Kato]

We really enjoyed these delcious brownies hungrykitten. They were awesome. Rich fudgy and decadent. I baked these treats in an 8x8 pan and undercooked slightly. I choose the coffee and lemon version, am I ever glad that I did. The flavor is outstanding, we loved the strong coffee flavor and the slight bitterness from the lemon. I opted not to make the frosting, they were wonderful without and we didn't miss it. I served with french vanilla ice cream and homemade strawberry compote...yummy. What a treat, I will definitely be making these again. Thank you so much for sharing your versatile recipe...I will defintely be trying some of the other versions.

 

[Bonnie G #2]

LOVE these brownies, I used the expresso variation and followed the directions only adding a 1/2 cup of chopped walnuts. DH, who does not like sweets or chocolates walked out of the kitchen with his mouth full saying these are awesome. Believe me you can't get a better review than that! The cooking time was perfect for us but maybe that was because I used an 8X8 square pan as that's all I had. It did have a nice crunchy top with a soft, chewy center and that wonderful flavor of chocolate and coffee that goes so well together. These brownies diffently (sp) do NOT need frosting as they are plenty rich as they stand. I cannot wait to make again for family once I'm feeling much better.

 

[Studentchef]

So moist and delicious! I made the espresso version of these brownies, and was happy to find that they were not dry at all, even though the time to bake was a bit longer than I'm used to which was 35 minutes. I know it said 40-45 minutes, but I felt it was a little too long, and at 35 minutes, they were baked just right.

 

[AlainaF]

Made these brownies for the Variety is the Spice of Life event, I did the grasshopper brownies. I brought them to our tailgating party before a soccer game, and my friends liked them, but commented how they had a slight mint taste, but not overpoweringly so. I liked them, they were delicious and rich, I just wish I'd added some peppermint extract to kick it up a notch. But everyone seemed to like them and I love them, great recipe!

 

[Chef Buggsy Mate]

I made your Strawberry and White Chocolate variation of the brownies the other night. In place of the low sugar preserves, I used an organic no sugar all fruit strawberry spread and I chose to omit the strawberry frosting. While the brownies were still warm, we topped them off with vanilla ice cream. I was shocked to hear my kids say that they were very good, but way too sweet! We finished off the remainder of the brownies last night and found that we enjoyed them better after they had a chance to mellow a little. I will be trying a couple of the other variations over time. Made and reviewed for Variety is the Spice of Life event.