Sweet Your Heart Out: Cookie's 'n Cream Brownies

So let's talk about this delectable delight shown above. I came across this recipe here while doing some blog-hopping on Friday evening. Never blog hop while you are hungry. It's so very dangerous. This is my first Sweet Your Heart Out blog post and I'm so excited about it! Treat Your Sweet Tooth Tuesday suddenly has some competition. I have realized lately that I get a certain thrill out of baking sugary treats when compared to preparing a dinner. Sweets are the treats that keep on giving throughout the week....well, as long as you make enough to last! So instead of reserving Tuesday's only as my day to bake goodies I've decided to broaden my horizons and ramp up my treat making.....and what better recipe to pick for my first non-Tuesday treat?!?! Could this sound more delicious? Let's face it....anything with Oreos involved is something I'm not going to be able to say no to. The only thing that might be able to top these brownies are the chocolate chip cookie dough brownies which are on deck for Sweet Your Heart Out!

Recipe confession time: ok, get ready to roll your eyes when I tell you this. I had absolutely no idea that brownies could be made without using a box mix. Yes Ashley, they can. And the icing on the cake is that they are super duper easy. I get the greatest satisfaction now out of gathering ingredients and creating an end result without having to read the back of a box. The recipe called for unsweetened chocolate but I had some semi-sweet chocolate in the pantry so I substituted which worked out perfectly. This was also my first encounter with kosher salt. Someone please tell me why it's so special. I'm too lazy to look it up. ;)

Ingredients:


Brownies

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate; coarsely chopped

3/4 cup butter
1 ½ cups white sugar
3 eggs; lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
¼ teaspoon kosher salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
8 Oreo cookies, crumbled

Cookies 'n Cream Frosting
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 ounces cream cheese, softened
2 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon milk
5 Oreo cookies, crumbled




Directions:


Brownies

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 9×9 inch baking pan with foil and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2. Microwave chocolate and butter or margarine in large bowl for 3-4 minutes or until butter is melted.


3. Whisk mixture until chocolate is melted. Stir in sugar. Add in eggs, extract and salt. Gradually add in flour and stir until just combined. Fold in crushed Oreo cookies.

4. Bake for 28-32 minutes; do not over bake. Remove from oven and place on cooling rack.

 Frosting

1. Beat butter and cream cheese until fluffy with a mixer.

2. Add the powdered sugar slowly, mixing together until combined. Add vanilla and mix until combined.


3. Add milk to desired consistency. If your frosting is too thick add more milk and if it's too thin add some more powdered sugar.

4. Crush Oreos and fold them into the frosting.


5. Frost cooled brownies. Makes enough frosting for a 9X9 pan of brownies.

I tweaked this recipe a bit and I'll tell you how. I added a few several extra Oreos into the brownie mixture....I couldn't resist. How can you have too many Oreos!?! Answer: you CAN'T! Also, instead of mixing the crushed oreos into the icing I placed them on top of each brownie after icing and cutting. After my first bite I was immediately mad at myself. Why? Because I'd gone my entire life without making a homemade brownie. Holy sweet goodness!!! Goodbye box brownies. We've had a good run. But it's time to go. The sugary squares disappeared faster than I could say "hey, save one more for me!!" Between passing them out to my ever faithful taste testers and Riley and I eating a few  a lot, they were gone by the end of the day. Oh yeah, one more thing....ENJOY!!!