Princess's Special Deluxe Brownies

• Posted: Tue Oct 28 2014 18:27:59 GMT-0500 (CDT)
• Updated: Wed Oct 29 2014 05:35:26 GMT-0500 (CDT)

Tags:

• recipe

Original recipe from Cool Cookies & Bars - Easy Recipes for Kids to Bake by Pam Price (ABDO Publishing Company, Edina, MN, 2010).

Background

When I picked the princess up from school a few weeks ago, she was extremely excited about the book she had checked out from the library, and wanted to go home to bake for her teachers immediately. While work wouldn't allow me to help her quite so quickly, I at least had time to pick up the ingredients a few nights later and get to baking the following night.

Since she was torn between the basic brownie recipe and the turtle bar recipe, we decided that the former would be the easiest to customize. Our recipe is basically a double serving of Price's "Bodacious Brownies" upgraded to include chopped pecans and walnuts, macadamia nuts, sliced almonds, and caramel-filled chocolate chips. A really nice bonus to using the caramel-filled chocolate chips: The caramel in chips baked into the brownie batter melt into the brownies, but the caramel in the chips sprinkled over the top is baked into toffee (and the "toffee" is in pieces so small that you won't chip any teeth).

We had a blast making these, and were extremely surprised by how well they turned out (especially since based on a recipe found in a children's cookbook, and since I've never made brownies from scratch before). We'll be using Price's recipe as a base for mint brownies this holiday season.

Dishes / Utensils / Tools

• 2 8x8" baking pans
• Aluminum foil
• 1 small-medium saucepan
• 1 large-xlarge mixing bowl
• 1 wooden spoon or high-powered stand/hand mixer
• 1 silicone spatula
• Toothpick(s)
• Cooling rack(s) or pot holders/trivets
• Oven mits
• 1 knife

Ingredients

• 12 ounces bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened) - We used 3 4oz. Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Baking Bars
• 1 cup butter for Step 3 below- We used two 1/2-cup sticks unsalted
• 2 tablespoons butter or Crisco, or Pam Spray, for Step 2 below
• 4 eggs
• 2 cups sugar
• 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract - I refuse to use the fake stuff, but I'm sure it works just fine.
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups flour
• 1 bag mixed chopped walnuts and pecans*
• 1 bag macadamia nuts*
• 1 bag sliced almonds*
• 1 bag caramel-filled chocolate chips*

*Our added ingredients

Directions

Stand mixer or high power and quality hand mixer HIGHLY recommended if not stirring by hand (bring lots of elbow grease if doing so). Our cheap hand mixer barely mixed everything completely, giving up the ghost in the process. Mmmm... Burning plastic...

Another potential option is to skip step 6 below, instead pouring multiple alternating layers of batter and chips/nuts in step 7, to spare your mixer/arms.

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Line insides of the baking pans with aluminum foil, folding excess foil over the edges of the pans. Grease foil with 2 tablespoons butter or Crisco (or spray with Pam)
3. Melt 1 cup butter, chocolate bars, and a handful of chocolate chips in a small-medium saucepan, stirring often, on medium-low heat. Once all components are melted and consistently mixed, remove from heat and cool to room temperature
4. Pour mix from Step 2 into large mixing bowl. Add eggs, sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, cinnamon, and salt. Stir/mix thoroughly.
5. Stir/mix in flour thoroughly.
6. Stir/mix in the entire bags of pecans/walnuts and macadamia nuts, and all but 2-3 handfuls of remaining chocolate chips.
7. Pour the batter mixture into the baking pans, splitting evenly, and scraping excess out with silicone spatula.
8. Sprinkle almonds and remaining chocolate chips over the top of the batter in both pans, then lightly sprinkle a pinch each of cocoa powder, cinnamon, and optionally nutmeg.
9. Bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-35 minutes. Test by sticking a toothpick in the center of each pan. When toothpick(s) come out clean, the pan is done. Place pans on cooling rack(s)/potholders/trivets until completely cooled.
10. Unfold the excess foil from the edges of the pans, and lift brownies out by the foil. Cut the brownies into squares, pour some big glasses of milk, and enjoy!