Friday, May 18

One Bowl Rocky Road Brownies


Oh what a good day it has been. What a fudgey, peanut buttery, sweet, sweet afternoon the Walter household has been indulging in. Normally I'm not a chocolate fan. I know, I know, I must be crazy! Outta this world, outta my mind! But really, plain chocolate just doesn't do it for me. Not plain chocolate bars, chocolate cake, chocolate cupcakes. I'll pass. Pair it with peanut butter though, that's a different story...

Lately though, I have been craving chocolate. A lot of chocolate. All I can think about is that giant cake from the movie Matilda. Right when the boy is about to keel over into a sugar coma from the massive amount of frosting sitting in his belly Matilda stands up and gets everyone to chant his name, "You can do it Bruce!" "Bruce! Bruce! Bruce!". No. Don't do it Bruce! It's all a game to Ms. Trunchbull! Not to me! Go ahead, I'll reach out, tap me in, leave it to someone else to finish that glorious hunk of rich gooey deliciousness. Which, by the way, my recent google search does contain "Matilda Bruce Evil Chocolate Cake Ingredients" and yes, there is a recipe. This is beginning to get dangerous.



True to the good Lords timing, bless my soul, Mister happened to be going to class this week and mentioned his hard-knock-life role of being my one and only taste tester. Then he came home and asked if I could make treats for everyone. I'd been so tired this week I didn't even pack his work/class food let alone a giant batch of desserts. Then Thursday night at 9pm that darned chocolate craving hit me and I decided to combine the two. I went into my Evernote, currently stuffed with 800+ "to make eventually someday in my life maybe" recipes, and found this little gem. It only took one bowl, it had a brownie bottom, it would fulfill his request for treats, it had a brownie bottom, you see where this is going.

I do want to preface this with a few things though. The original recipe (link below) was for a 9x9 dish so while I did double the brownie half I didn't double all of the toppings, as I realized there was more than enough to cover everything. I added the 1/3 cup of chocolate chips to the butter/cocoa mix out of wild panic after a flashback of the first time I made chocolate cake from scratch, the soul chocolate base also being cocoa powder, that still haunts me to this very day. I think it gave it a little extra oomph! But who knows. I also substituted broken graham crackers for the peanuts since I didn't have any on hand.


One Bowl Rocky Road Peanut Butter Brownies
(slightly adapted from CookieMadness)

Ingredients
  • 8 oz (2 sticks) unsalted butter
  • 6 tablespoons natural unsweetened cocoa powder
  • 1/3 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • 2 cups granulated sugar
  • 1 1/2 cups A.P. flour
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
For the topping:
  • 1 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
  • 3 cups mini marshmallows
  • 2/3 cups lightly salted peanuts (or broken graham crackers)
  • 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
  • extra chocolate for drizzling (optional, I used leftover blue candy melts I had lying around)
Instructions:

Preheat oven to 350`F. Line a 9x12 pan with nonstick foil.
  1.   In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter, then add cocoa powder and chocolate chips. Stir until chips are mostly melted and let it cool down for 5-10 minutes. When cooled add the sugar, flour, salt and mix by hand until incorporated. Crack in eggs two at a time, then beat in vanilla until everything is evenly distributed. Do not over-mix.
  2. Pour into pan and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick comes out mostly clean. Remove from oven and set aside to cool for 15 minutes. Do not turn off the oven yet.
  3. Warm peanut butter in microwave safe dish for 10 seconds and spread on brownies. Sprinkle marshmallows, chocolate chips and peanuts on top.
  4. Put the brownies back into the oven for 5-6 minutes, until you see the marshmallows get puffy. Remove and drizzle with chocolate of your choosing.
  5. Cool at room temp (you can wait a bit then stick it in the fridge for 30 minutes to speed up the process but I wouldn't suggest any longer. I left mine in overnight - had to sleep some time! - and it turned the marshmallows a bit gummy)
  6. Cut into squares and enjoy!

4 comments:

  1. Wow, yours look better than mine! Nice job.

    And now I kind of want to see Matilda.

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    Replies
    1. That was an absolutely lightening fast response time, I didn't know if you would even get that comment!
      Thank you! And thank you for sharing the recipe.

      Do see Matilda, it's a childhood classic.

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  2. Excuse me.. What is ( natural ).. The second ingredient you wrote?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Natural unsweetened is the type of cocoa powder most typically found in American grocery stores (Hershey, Nestle) but there is also dutch processed cocoa powder. Natural cocoa hasn't been washed with a potassium solution so its acidity has not been neutralized, it's generally paired with baking soda in recipes. Dutch processed cocoa has had its acidity neutralized and won't react with baking soda the same way so it is typically paired with baking powder. They are interchangeable in a few instances but to be on the safe side I wouldn't swap them unless you looked up what other alterations should be made to the recipe, as using the wrong one can greatly affect the finished product.

      Hope that answers your question!

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