Experiment: Butter Toffee Brownies

I made these yesterday just experimenting. I didn't write down anything but it came out delicious. I made some soft butter toffee yesterday but burnt it slightly. I didn't want to throw it out  since the flavor was slightly burnt. I decided not to throw it out but layer it in some extra brownie batter. The chocolate mask the burnt flavor and there was just yummy toffee goodness left. It also added this extra moistness to the brownies...this was a win. Look at that toffee trying to escape the sides and the beautiful crackle in the brownie top. These were gone in less than a day!

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake Brownie Pots

I know the weather is getting warmer so lighter desserts that are kinder to your waistline should be in order but sometimes you just want something decadent. I really love brownies...cheesecake...not so much on its own. However when I put the two together its a match made in dessert heaven.  For this dessert I had some stipulations I needed to follow though for no other reason than challenging myself:

- It needed to go in my ramekins

- It needed to use homemade dulce de leche

- Brownies had to be the base

- They needed to be made together, no cutting and assembling

So now that the challenge guidelines were set I could get to work. The dulce de leche was homemade and is soo easy to make...all you need is a baking pan, salt, and a can of condense milk...oh and your oven!  So I put my dulce de leche in the oven and went about getting the other things ready.  The brownies are ready in just a few minutes and only take one pot. The dulce de leche Cheesecake is also really easy to make as well. This is a great make ahead dessert  and ultra portable whether you make it in ramekins or bar form. I did both to see what I like more and the ramekins win...I mean anything in a ramekin automatically turns sophisticated right! The bars were really good but I wish I had doubled my dulce de leche recipe so i would of had enough to spread on top the bars. Everyone in my family enjoyed this dessert so I'm sure it ll become a staple in my home and maybe after you try it it'll become a staple in yours too. 

Dulce De Leche Cheesecake Brownie Pots

Dulce De Leche

- 14oz can condense milk

- pinch of sea salt

 **Double if you want enough to cover all the final product**

- Heat oven to 450 degrees

- pour condense milk into 8x8in pan (I used a glass Pyrex)

- Sprinkle milk with pinch of sea salt and cover pan with foil

- Place 8x8in pan in a larger pan that is deep enough to allow you to fill it with water that would come half way up the sides of the 8x8in pan. 

- After filling the larger pan with water place everything int he oven and bake the milk for 1-1.5 hours until milk reaches a dark brown color with a soft caramel consistency

- Remove from oven and let cool at room temperature.

Fudge Brownies

Adapted from Bakingbites.com

8tbsp unsalted butter

40z unsweetened chocolate

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1tsp vanilla extract

1/4tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

- Prepare ten ramekins (or 6 ramekins and a 8x8in pan) by spraying with cooking spray and set to the side.

- Melt chocolate and butter under medium heat. When fully melted turn off the heat and stir in sugar, vanilla, and salt.

- Let mixture cool for 3 minutes and then whisk in eggs one at a time. 

- Finish by whisking in flour.

- Pour brownie mixture into ramekins and pan and set to the side while you prepare cheesecake mixture.

Dulce de Leche Cheesecake

Adapted from Fine Cooking

- 12tbsp cream cheese, softened

- 6tbsp dulce de leche

- 2tbsp flour

-  pinch salt

- 1/2 cup + 1tbsp sugar

- 1/2 tbsp vanilla

- 2 eggs

- In mixer beat cream cheese, dulce de leche, flour, and salt for 5 minutes until fluffy.

- Add sugar and vanilla, continue to beat until smooth. 

- Add eggs one at a time and mix until just combined. 

- pour cheesecake mixture into ramekins (and pan if using) evenly.

- Place ramekins (and pan if using) on a baking sheet and place in a 325 degree oven.

- Bake for 40 minutes 

- Remove ramekins from oven and cool at room temp and then set in refrigerator overnight. 

- The following day top ramekins with remaining Dulce de Leche and serve.

Bars stacked high!

Mocha Caramel Brownies

When you have tons of leftover ingredients from past baking experiments what do you do? Do you throw it away or choose to turn it into something new....I definitely choose the latter. I had some caramel sauce leftover from christmas and chocolate leftover from valentines day. I decided that the easiest thing would be to make some brownies and swirl the caramel in...nothing innovative just simply yummy goodness. I used my favorite brownie recipe and added 1tbsp of espresso powder and swirled in my homemade salted caramel. For this recipe you can simply use store bought caramel sauce but if you want the recipe I used just email me.

Mocha Caramel Brownies

8tbsp unsalted butter

5oz semi sweet chocolate

1 tbsp espresso powder

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/4 tsp salt

2 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 cup caramel sauce

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees and line an 8x8 inch baking pan with parchment paper foil

- Melt chocolate and butter in large sauce pot ove low heat.

- When chocolate and butter is melted, add sugar and espresso powder to the same sauce pot and whisk until combined.

-Whisk in eggs one at a time followed by vanilla and salt

- Finally whisk in flour until mixture is smooth and uniform

- Pour brownies into prepared pan and then add dollops of caramel sauce on top of different sections of the pan.

- Use a butter knife to swirl the caramel throughout the brownie mixture.

- When your finished swirling put your brownies in the oven and bake for 20 minutes.

- Prepare a sheet pan with ice an leave to the side.

- When brownies are finished sit the pan on top of an ice bath and allow to cool and then cut as desired.

White Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Bean Blondies

Such a long name right?? Well I wanted to incorporate all the leading ingredients into the title. These blondie's were an experiment on one of my favorites brownie recipes. I wanted to achieve the same dense chewy texture the brownies had in a blondie. To be honest this was my third experiment. The first one where I used butterscotch was a total disaster and so was the second one where I used white chocolate chips, they were too sugary...something like bite sized diabetes. I realized this recipe needed tweaking badly. The texture was achieved somewhat but there was an over abundance of sugar and the graininess that came along with it.  Anytime I make these brownies using semi sweet chocolate they are perfect and when I used the butterscotch or white chocolate they were over the top sweet. This third time I started making some changes on paper and rolled up my sleeves for the last time testing this recipe hoping that third time would be the charm...and it was! The white chocolate chips and butterscotch contain more sugar so I had to reduce and even change some of the sugar and that helped tremendously. For these white chocolate brownies I wanted play with the flavor and added in some Tahitian vanilla beans that i had on hand. The result of this last try was a dense, chewy, blondies with rich vanilla and white chocolate flavor. I also want to say that I didn't use any high end white chocolate just some regular nestle white chips that my sister bought for me. As for the vanilla beans....it created such a floral-y vanilla scent and taste for these blondies...one bite and I felt like i was strolling through Paris in the spring. I will definitely say these are a must try...hope you enjoy.

White Chocolate Tahitian Vanilla Bean Blondies

Makes 24 bars

12 oz white chocolate, chopped or in chips

2 sticks of unsalted butter

3/4 cup ganulated sugar

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1 tbsp vanilla extract

1 vanilla bean scraped

4 large eggs

1 cup + 2 tbsp all purpose flour

- Preheat oven to 400 degrees.

- Line 17in brownie/bar pan with parchment and spray with cooking spray,

- On the stove or in a microwave melt butter, chocolate, and sugar. Whisk until smooth. 

- Whisk in vanilla extract, vanilla bean pulp, and salt.

- Begin to whisk in eggs one at a time until combined.

- Stir in flour until smooth.

-  Pour mixture into prepared pan.

- Bake for 25 minutes or until crust is entirely set.

-  On a sheet pan that is larger than the brownie pan spread ice in it.

- When brownies are set, remove from oven and place brownie pan onto ice.

- After 15 minutes allow brownies to cool for an additional 10-15 minutes in the refridgerator or freezer.

- Remove from the fridge or freezer, remove from baking pan, and cut into bars.

Cookie Brownies

This is actually a take on my favorite brownie recipe from Baking Bite. I think this recipe is actually on her blog but I didn't look for it so I just decided to try to make it on my own. It doesn't take anything extra except some sandwich cookies broken up into pieces such as Oreos, Newman's Own, or Joe Joe's.
I used candy cane Joe Joe's from Trader Joe's which contain little pieces of candy canes. While I had the brownie mix preparing on the stove I began crushing the cookies by hand in a separate bowl. When the batter was finished I just mixed in the cookies...baking time. I hoped that everyone would like this deviation since  normally don't mix in anything to my brownies but I said they all love Joe Joe's so it should be a hit. After they cooled and were cut I bit into them and you could definitely taste the mint and the cookies added a slightly crunchier texture to the brownies. I wasn't a big fan of them but my family gobbled up the DOUBLE BATCH in two days! I guess that facts speaks for them more than I ever could.

Peppermint Cookie Brownies

1 cup unsalted butter

8oz unsweetened chocolate

2 1/2 cups sugar

3tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 cup flour

1 1/2 cup crushed cookies

- Preheat oven to 400 and line a 17in brownie pan with foil or parchment paper

- melt butter and chocolate in sauce pot

- whisk in sugar, salt, and vanilla

- whisk in eggs one at a time

- whisk in flour

- add in crushed cookies

- pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes 

- while brownies are in the oven prepare a ice bath to put pan in to instantly cool brownies.

- when brownies cool, cut and store.