Magic Cookie Bars

I have to admit I have a very soft spot for Brownies - being the easiest to bake, these are one of my cherished desserts, especially when you need something quick and satisfying to uplift your mood or indulge your sweet tooth. Plus, they are a hit with my toddler too, though I try to restrict indulging her!

The Magic Cookie Bars, or Blondies, as I would call them, are a lovely variation from the traditional brownie recipe. It does not use any flour, just graham cracker crumbs, condensed milk and your favorite toppings. Plus, it is so versatile, you can easily swap toppings with your favorite ones, peanut butter chips, butterscotch chips, white chocolate, pecans, pistachios, almonds - throw in everything and you'll still end up with one perfect recipe!


Ingredients
1/2 cup butter or margarine, melted
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup butterscotch chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped nuts

Method
Heat oven to 350 degrees F (325 degrees for glass dish). Coat 13x9-inch baking pan with non-stick cooking spray.

Combine graham cracker crumbs and butter. Mix well with your fingers so everything is evenly buttered. Then press gently into bottom of prepared pan, evening out the layer with your palms.

Pour sweetened condensed milk evenly over crumb mixture. Layer evenly with chocolate chips, coconut and nuts. Press down firmly with a fork.

Bake 20-25 minutes or until lightly browned. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Then take a serrated knife and cut into bars or diamonds.

The magical Blondies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature up to 2 days.

Related Recipes
Mango & Coconut Snack Cakes
Mocha Pistachio Brownies
Blueberry Orange & Sour Cream Cakes

As pure as white

Terima kasih kepada one of my customer yang order Oreo Cheese Brownies dan Blueberry Cheese Tart. Special request dengan khidmat delivery serta balloons dan bunga. Customer nak bagi suprise untuk husbandnya yang berada di Shah Alam (dan dia berada di Kedah), so saya rasa tema putih dan hitam sesuai untuk lelaki. This is beautiful. I just love how love can connect them walaupun jarak memisahkan mereka. Thank you again :)

Chubby Hubby Brownies

A few days after Christmas, I was hurriedly rolling through Target with Little C, enduring her kicks to my femurs from that kid seat thing they put in shopping carts. I rounded a corner and saw an explosion of pink and red and hearts and glitter. They were putting up Valentine's Day stuff before New Year's, people! I was still bloated from Christmas dinner! This all felt so wrong. Like one of Those People, I confronted the staff member assembling the display and was all, "Hey, let me have my holiday hangover one holiday at a time, Target!", and she was all, "Hey, Andy Rooney, why don't you just chill out and feel the love?!"

(Actually, the Target staffer didn't really say that, I think she was mostly just startled by my crazy ponytail and dowdy post-Christmas binge ensemble of Fat Pants and an unreasonably large tunic. But I felt the vibe of what she was thinking.)

A few days later, however, I did indeed get to thinking about Valentine's Day treats because apparently I am very influenced by marketing and mortifying experiences at Target. Ergo, Chubby Hubby Brownies were born.



I've decided I needed to tell you about these brownies now, weeks before Valentine's Day, just in case you're like me and find that baked goods are a key part of any perfect gift for cheesy holidays. Chubby Hubby Brownies, in fact, are the ultimate brownies for dudes. And even if you're not struggling to think of a gift for a dude this Valentine's Day, you need these brownies in your life.

It all started with my very favorite brownie recipe. Then I got to thinking about the glory that is Ben and Jerry's Chubby Hubby ice cream. And then things got a little crazy. Like malted-cheesecake-swirl-caramel-bits-and-peanut-butter-filled-pretzels-crazy. Hoooo, boy.


But like that staffer at Target--innocently doing her job, who I questioned so fervently--ignore my craziness. Just enjoy the results. Because these are really something. And you won't see any references to a Chubby Hubby of my own in this post, because my husband is one of those irritating high-metabolism people who can eat a whole pan of these brownies and never gain an ounce--he just stores them in his hollow leg. But he is my permanent Valentine anyway.

Chubby Hubby Brownies

I used those little cubes of caramel that come wrapped in clear cellophane, because they hold their shape well during baking. You can find several brands of peanut butter-filled pretzels out there--the ones at Trader Joe's are great.

These brownies are especially fabulous chilled. But you didn't hear it from me.

Makes 16

For the swirl:

8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature

1 large egg

1/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

1/3 cup malted milk powder

For the brownies:

7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons oure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Add-ins:

4 ounces store-bought caramels, unwrapped and quartered
3 ounces peanut butter-filled pretzel nuggets, lightly crushed

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8- inch baking pan with foil or parchment and spray with nonstick cooking spray.

In a medium bowl, beat together the cream cheese, 1 egg, sugar, vanilla and malt powder until smooth and creamy. Set aside.

In a medium bowl, melt the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler or in the microwave, stirring occasionally until smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder and set aside to cool.

In another medium bowl, whisk together the 3 eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk the cooled chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Stir in the flour with a wooden spoon until just combined.

Spread half the brownie batter evenly in the prepared pan. Sprinkle half the caramel bits and half the crushed pretzels evenly over the top. Pour in the cream cheese mixture and smooth the surface with a spatula. Dollop the remaining half of the brownie batter over the cream cheese mixture in 5-6 generous blobs. Using a butter knife, lightly swirl the brownie batter and cream cheese mixture together. Sprinkle the remaining caramel bits and pretzels over the top.

Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick comes out clean when tested 1 inch from the edges (it will look a bit underdone in the middle), about 40-45 minutes. Cool on a wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours, before cutting and serving. Store any leftovers in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 4-5 days.

Simply Blissful

I am having quite an awesome summer.

First of all, my lack of blogging is due to a non-lack of everything else, such as brownies and jobs.

That's right, I'm off the job market. :) In the same week, I started my internship at Bliss, which is this really amazing bakery about half an hour from my house, and had a job interview at Publix. As far as Publix goes, I'm just waiting on the results of my background check & drug test before I can move forward with that.

But Bliss. Oh my gosh. I am having so much fun there! It's two days a week of cake & cupcake heaven. Everyone who works there (as well as the other interns) is so nice and so much fun to work with. I've done crumb coating and cupcake decorating (and baking) and cash registering and fondant creating. Well, I didn't actually make any fondant, I just colored some and make some cute little decorations.

I haven't covered a cake in fondant yet, although I did help. And I learned that Satin Ice is difficult to work with. I also did all the other fun intern stuff like washing dishes and sweeping and inventory-ing. ;) But it's still worth it.

So if you live in my area, you gotta stop by sometime and dry one of their delicious (and beautiful) creations!

And while I'm not working or hanging out with my friends or sleeping, I am still baking. Like those brownies. An imperfect, labor-intensive, yummy little dessert. The ganache was too soft but I couldn't freeze them because then the caramel was too hard. The turtle brownies were easier to cut when I froze them, and I just used a little heart-shaped cookie cutter to do it, and then put the melted caramel between the two little layers and doused them with semi-sweet chocolate.  :)

Oreo Cheese Brownies

Terima kasih buat Sha kerana sudi order dari saya ya. Ini adalah packaging Oreo Cheese Brownies untuk diberi sebagai tanda mata. Setiap box plastik ini mengandungi dua cups brownies. Diikat cantik dengan reben merah :)

Jika anda berminat, anda boleh dapatkan packaging ini juga dengan pembelian Oreo Cheese Brownies. TQ.

Oreo Cheese Brownies

Order diterima dari seorang teman yang ingin memberi sedikit hadiah. Dia berminat untuk order Oreo Cheese Brownies, tapi tak boleh nak tulis di atas setiap kek. So that, we came out dengan idea untuk letak words (banyak la maxx, macam karangan dah T_T) di atas helaian fondant.

Thanks for the inspiration, Maxx. Semoga terus berjaya di Sabah ya. Jaga diri :)

More cheese, more fun

Million thanks to those who ordered Oreo Cheese Brownies. i got 3 orders within a day. its incredible! Love, love, love :)

The packaging

The most-wanted brownies ever :)

Oreo Cheese Brownies

The combination of cheezy creamy cheese and crust of oreo. Nice one :)

A box of 20 Oreo Cheese Brownies, only RM40

Brownie Cupcakes

Ta-Da! Here are the finished cupcakes that I alluded to yesterday, and they are all in their entirety (unlike yesterday, when I started eating the gingerbread man before I took a picture).

Oh, wait. That guy in front looks a little crippled.  Well, to be fair, they are irresistibly yummy.

I started out with a box of turtle brownie mix that my grandma gave me, and a sleeve of 500 Christmas cupcake liners. And so, the idea of brownies that look like cupcakes was born! Plus, it was a snow day, and I was stuck inside because of the below freezing weather and icy road conditions.

Be warned, though, that the brownies stuck to the cupcake liners. Maybe it was the caramel? Or maybe I should've sprayed Pam on them first? I'm really not sure about that odd phenomenon, but if you have any ideas, let me know so I can improve next time.

Then, since I had this really cute idea in my head about snowflake sprinkles and tiny gingerbread men, I wanted to decorate them...

You can't really tell, but that's a 2-foot piping bag I've got in my hands. When I decided I needed a bigger bag to ice cupcakes with, I figured I'd just go with the biggest size available. Well... maybe an 18" bag would've done the job just as nicely, but without being quite so intimidating.

Then came the sprinkles...

And finally, the finished product! And many thanks to Sarah, who helped me out and decorated some of these cute little guys with me!

I must warn you, though, that these are really sweet and rich. I think a normal chocolate cupcake would fare better with all the decorations, and leave the brownie cupcakes to stand on their own merit, with maybe a small swirl of fudge icing for garnish.

These Are Amazing

So, this isn't really a full-blown blog post, although I'll expand on the topic more once I upload the rest of the photos, but I just wanted to let you know  how amazing these cupcakes are.

It's turtle brownie mix, with blue buttercream icing and snowflake sprinkles and tiny gingerbread men decorated by Sarah & me.

<3

More adorable pics soon!!

Bittersweet Cranberry Brownies

Ingredients:
3/4 cup butter
12 oz bittersweet chocolate chunks
1 3/4 cups sugar
1 1/2 cups fresh cranberries
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour

Directions:
Heat oven to 350. Grease or spray with baking spray a 8x8 baking pan* very thoroughly. In a medium saucepan, over medium heat, melt butter. Add 3/4 cup chocolate chunks. Cook mixture over low heat, stirring constantly. Chocolate should be thoroughly melted. Remove from heat. Stir in sugar. Whisk in the eggs and vanilla until well mixed. Stir in flour and remaining chocolate chunks and stir until the flour is incorporated. Fold in the cranberries. Bake about 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean or with just one or two sticky crumbs. Cool on wire rack before slicing and serving.

My thoughts:

When local Baltimore skyline fixture Domino sugar offered me a tiny stipend to create new recipe for a holiday treat, I knew exactly what I had to make.

This is pretty much the richest baked good I've posted here. Three eggs? 3/4 cup of butter? 12 oz of bittersweet chocolate? In a 8x8 inch pan? Insanity. Well, maybe not totally insane but definitely squarely placed in the decadent dessert sphere. This is a very, very good brownie. It is of the chewy around the edges-gooey in the middle branch of the brownie tree. They are thick, super, super chocolate-y and each bite is immensely satisfying. The cranberries are wonderfully tart and chewy which contrasts well with the dark chocolate. No one would ever guess that you could whip up a batch (in a single pot!) in under 15 minutes*. I am not even a big fan of brownies and I could not get enough of them, the mix of deep dark chocolate and tart cranberries is just divine.

*Not including baking time, of course.

Finally! Some Oven Love :)

If you had not heard the news via twitter, then you are in for a treat:  the oven is in!

Yes, that's right, Dad finally flipped the last switch and turned on that shiny, stainless steel appliance of joy and baking. :-D

So last night I made a trip out to Wal-Mart in order to prepare for the baking fest that lies ahead of me.

I made a box of brownies yesterday (I know, I know, I'm trying to stay away from box mixes, but I wanted to try out that oven ASAP) and they were yummy.  See?

Only one brownie left. :-(

Today, when I got home from school early (just one of the many perks of being a senior), I bake strawberry cupcakes... alas, also from a box mix.  But that's because I've never made strawberry cupcakes before, and wanted to jump right into the baking.  Soooo, I do feel like I cheated a little, since I'm trying to go "homemade" all the time.  But the next time (sugar cookies, I hope), I'll do it the homemade way.

I also found some whipped icing at Wal-Mart (in the Craft/Martha Stewart/wedding section) which I used to ice these yummy little cuppies.

The only problem that I have is that the oven does not beep very loudly when it preheats (not a big problem) or finishes cooking (a much larger problem).  Also, I think it only beeps once, instead of obnoxiously repeated, like Old Oven.  So I may have cooked these guys a little long.

However, they are so yummy, as all of my family can attest to.  I may have piled the icing on a little too high, though, because we had some icing noses going on. ;-)

More updates can probably be found on my Facebook page and/or Twitter, because I can update more easily to my phone, but rest assured that I will be blogging faithfully this summer about all of my baking endeavors before college.

And I'm making my graduation cake next week.  It's gonna be awesome!

(And in other cake news, have you heard of Cake Boss?)

Peppermint Patty Brownies

Ingredients:
9 Peppermint Patty miniatures (.6 oz each)
6 oz semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray with baking spray or grease and flour one 9 inch baking pan. In a saucepan, melt the butter, cocoa and chocolate together over low heat*. Stir occasionally, and when the chocolate is nearly melted, remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together flour, salt, baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat together the brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla until frothy. Slowly stream the chocolate mixture into the eggs and mix to combine. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is thick and glossy. Pour half into prepared pan. Top with peppermint patties, the top with remaining batter. Bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Cool completely before slicing and serving.



My thoughts:
I am sure I am not the only one with some leftover candy from a pre-Halloween candy buying blitz. Two years ago I tried Dorie Greenspan's Brrrr-ownies recipe which called for chopped York Peppermint Patties. They were okay but I've had in the back of my mind ever since that I could probably make a version that I would enjoy more. I had a bunch of miniature patties left so I thought I'd finally give it a shot. Since I didn't have her recipe anymore and I didn't like it anyway, I started completely from scratch. I ended up with a slightly peppermintier, very chocolately, very decadent brownie. I love how the peppermint patty adds a bit of chew to the brownie.

Bake Sales, Cookies, and Mother's Day

I baked these yummy peanut-butter brownies for the bake sale tomorrow. I also baked some sugar cookies.

The rest of the sugar cookies that I make are going to be for Career Day on Tuesday. I met with the counselors today who asked me to make the cookies. They were extremely nice. =D

However, the round cookie cutter that I have is only 2 3/4", no 3" so I'm going to need to buy a new cookie cutter this weekend. Hopefully, we'll have time to go to Wal-Mart, because I need to buy ribbons, bags, and the cookie cutter (3"!). I'm not sure when we'll have time, because I'm taking the SAT on Saturday (that'll be a fun way to spend the morning...) but maybe in the afternoon...

I also decided that I'm going to make a cheese cake to celebrate Mother's Day. My own mother loves cheese cake, and we have this huge package of cream cheese from Costo that's just screaming to be made into a delicious dessert.

Life is busy right now for me. But as I told Mom and Dad earlier, making cookies is a stress releaser. And so is eating cookies. So I'm going to see if the Reese's Pieces chocolate cookies that Dad made are available for eating....

Pumpkin Cheesecake Swirl Brownies

Ingredients:
2 eggs, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, melted and cooled
1 cup flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup canned pumpkin
2 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
8 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
3 oz unsweetened chocolate

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or spray with baking spray one 8x8 inch baking dish. In a small pan, melt the chocolate and 2 tablespoons of butter together, stirring occasionally. Set aside. In a medium bowl, beat together the eggs and sugars until fluffy. Add the vanilla and melted butter, mix thoroughly. Add in the baking powder and flour. Beat to combine. Divide the batter into two bowls. Add the melted chocolate to one bowl and mix thoroughly. Add the cream cheese, nutmeg and pumpkin to the second bowl of batter and mix thoroughly. Pour the pumpkin mixture into the prepared pan. Drop large spoonfuls of the chocolate batter on top and swirl throughly with a knife for a marbled look. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out nearly clean. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Slice and serve.

My thoughts:

I've had luck with cheesecake brownies in the past but wanted to make something a little more seasonal. These are really moist and flavorful brownies. Keep in mind when you make this recipe that it is pumpkin cheesecake flavored and not pumpkin pie flavored. Pumpkin has a subtle squash flavor that the tang of cheesecake compliments, but if you've only ever eaten pumpkin in pie form, it might not taste quite the way you expect. I hadn't thought of making that distinction, but that's the reaction that I've been getting from people who tried them, the brownies were great, but tasted nothing like pumpkin pie! Which, of course, they weren't supposed to-it's the spices that give pumpkin pie that distinctive taste and aroma, not the pumpkin.

Goji Berry Brownies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup applesauce
1 cup light brown sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/3 cup goji berries, soaked in 3 tablespoons of water
1/4 cup oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder
pink sea salt

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or spray an 8x8 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, beat together applesauce, oil, sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa. Beat until well mixed then fold in the goji berries (with any residual water). Pour into prepared pan. Sprinkle with sea salt. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of pan comes out clean or with only a small, dry crumb attached.

My thoughts:

You all know how much I love the Vosges goji berry bar-I've already made an ice cream version- and I've been thinking about what else I could make this this flavor. The easiest, most logical choice was brownies. These brownies are particularly good, chocolatey but not so much that it over powders the subtle flavor of a goji berry and the salt provides just the right balance.

Chocolate Satin Macadamia Brownies

Ingredients:
8 oz semisweet chocolate
3 oz macadamia nuts, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup Dutch processed cocoa
1/4 cup sugar
6 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 eggs

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Spray with baking spray or grease and flour one 9 inch baking pan. In a saucepan, melt the butter, cocoa and chocolate together over low heat*. Stir occasionally, and when the chocolate is nearly melted, remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Set aside. In a small bowl, stir together flour, nuts, salt, baking powder. In a separate bowl, beat together the brown sugar, sugar, eggs and vanilla until frothy. Slowly stream the chocolate mixture into the eggs and mix to combine. Gradually stir in the dry ingredients and mix until the batter is thick and glossy. Pour into prepared pan and bake 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.


*You can get fancy and use a double boiler for this part, but frankly, I just dumped it all in the pot (pictured above), set it on a fairly low flame then basically ignored it while I beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until fluffy and measured out the dry ingredients. When about 90% of the chocolate was melted, I removed it from the heat, whisked it together until smooth and that was it. I wouldn't recommend doing it in the microwave (too much chocolate to melt evenly) but doing it in a saucepan only takes a few minutes longer.

Spring this recipe!

My thoughts:

When I saw that Once Upon A Tart was having a brownie round-up I realized it was finally time to try out my new baking pan.These brownies are amazing from the moment you start melting the chocolate to the second they come out of the oven, you are just waiting for them to cool off enough to eat. The batter is beautiful, satiny brown studded with macadamias and results in a brownie that is not too cakey, but not just a pan of fudge either with a fine crumb and glossy surface. Brownie perfection achieved.

Chocolate Coconut Brownies

Ingredients:
1 1/2 cup flour
1 cup applesauce
1 cup dark brown sugar
2/3 cup cocoa
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/4 cup oil
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 teaspoon baking soda
2 teaspoons baking powder

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour or spray an 8x8 inch baking dish. In a large bowl, beat together applesauce, oil, sugar and vanilla. Stir in flour, baking soda, baking powder and cocoa. Beat until well mixed then fold in coconut. Pour into prepared pan. Bake 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the middle of pan comes out clean.

My thoughts:

My sister-in-law is spending the weekend with us before she heads back to India. She isn't technically vegan (she'll eat honey and cheese if it is rennet free) but she doesn't eat eggs. We have a friend who is vegan so we invited them over to meet my sister-in-law and to share these delicious vegan brownies. I had never made vegan brownies before, but they were good: slightly chewy and with a good chocolate favor.

Cheesecake Brownies

Ingredients:

brownie layer:
2 eggs, at room temperature
4 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup flour
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1/8 teaspoon salt



cheesecake layer:
1 egg, at room temperature
8 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
1 tablespoon flour

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour or using baking spray with flour one 8x8 inch pan. In a medium pot, melt chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat. Whisk in sugar, flour, eggs and vanilla. Pour into prepared pan, smoothing the surface with a spatula as needed. In a separate bowl, beat together cream cheese, egg, sugar, flour and vanilla until fluffy. Carefully pour over brown layer. Bake for 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack then slice and serve. The cooler the brownie, the easier it will be to cut.

My thoughts:

I have been wanting to make cheesecake brownies for what seems like years but could never find the perfect recipe. I've been thinking about making them a lot lately and decided to finally come up with my own recipe. Tonight is the Gilmore Girls premiere which I have been looking forward to all summer, even though I was sorely disappointed in Season 6. What better way to usher it in then with cheesecake brownies? I wanted a recipe that created 2 distinct levels of cheesecake and brownie (no swirling), was very chocolate-y without overpowering the cream cheese and which created a minimum of dishes. These brownies are darn near perfect. They are very chocolate-y while still maintaining the tang of cream cheese. Not to mention that by making the brownies in one pot, it minimized the dishes to my Kitchenaid, a pot, a measuring cup and a spoon. Rory and Lorelei would be proud.

Deep Dish Double Chocolate Toffee Brownies

Ingredients:
2 eggs
5 tablespoons butter, melted
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup toffee bits
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour or spray (using cooking spray with flour) 8-inch square baking pan. In a medium sized bowl, throughly mix together butter, sugars and vanilla extract. Add eggs, mix until well combined. In small bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well combined. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan. Bake 45 to 50 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely then cut into squares and serve.

My thoughts:

I really like how these brownies came out, I like a thick brownie and I also like the the yield is a little less than it would be using a more traditional 9x13 baking pan. The chocolate/toffee combo is classic. I swear, the bag of Heath toffee bits I bought is never ending. I have made 2 batches of toffee chocolate chip cookies and these moist, chocolately brownies and still have half a bag of toffee bits left. I guess I will just have to come up with more recipes in which to use them up. Of course, you could make this recipe without the toffee bits (I know they can be tricky to find) and they would be just as good.