I said it in a previous post, but part of the start of the year routine this year meant cleaning out and organizing my pantry. The holidays always brings an influx of sweets and ingredients, and they inevitably always last well beyond December. So, these brownies served two start-of-the-year purposes: to use up all the various candies and mix-ins that were around the house, and to do a good ol’ back to basics recipe to start the year off right. It also allowed me to try out a new brownie recipe. Because as much as I don’t think the Baked Brownie ever needs to be improved upon, it’s nice to have more than one recipe, especially since this one takes less time.
The leftover goodies in question were: crumbled Reese’s, M&M’s, white chocolate, and a lot of milk chocolate. I decided to use the milk chocolate in the actual base of the brownies, and then throw the rest of the candy and chocolate in as mix-ins. The milk chocolate matters for the recipe – I decreased the amount of sugar used considerably – but the mix-ins don’t matter! Just throw in whatever you want to get rid of in your pantry, or bake them as plain chocolate.
As I was making these, I realized that I have gone far too long without making brownies! Honestly, I don’t know if I made them at all last year? In all my focus on trying new things, brownies have gotten lost in the shuffle? What an oversight. I can’t let it happen again.
At least I made up for it partially – these were thick brownies. They would have been a normal thickness in a 9×13 pan, but they were in a 9×9 pan, so they were about twice the height of normal brownies. But I’m not complaining! As I said, I’ve been in a brownie deficit, so these were making up for lost time.
These were a hit at work. I left them out, and while I never actually saw anyone take any from the box, they were 2/3 of the way gone by 10:30am, and all the way gone by 1pm. Not sure if this means my coworkers were all eating brownies at 10am, but I wouldn’t put it past them. All of them seem to be… entirely unknowable. Today at work I saw a guy sit in the break room on his phone and eating chips for – I’m not kidding – approximately 2 hours, from 10:20-12:10. Maybe he ate a brownie at 10am before he settled in to his two hour lunch break. Impossible to say. Humanity is always far weirder than I can fathom, brownies at 10am is probably the least weird it can get.
Before the turns into a spiral, I’ll wrap this up. Cheers to cleaning out pantries, and cheers to the classics!
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Brownies adapted from Joy the Baker
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks, 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
6 ounces milk chocolate, coarsely chopped
5 large eggs
1 1/2 cups lightly packed dark brown sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2 cups of whatever candy or mix-ins you have around: chopped chocolate bars, Reese’s, M&Ms, etc.
Instructions
- Place a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter a 9×9-inch baking pan with 2.5-inch-high sides. Line with parchment paper so it hangs over the edges on two sides. Set aside. (This recipe can also be made in a 9×13-inch pan for a thinner brownie, cooking for 30 to 35 minutes.)
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside. Create a double boiler and melt butter and chocolate over simmering water. Stir chocolate and butter in this double boiler until melted and smooth.
- In a medium bowl beat together eggs, brown sugar, and vanilla. Stir in warm chocolate mixture, then the dry ingredients. Fold in all of your mix-ins. Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 45-50 minutes.
- Cool for at least 20 minutes then slice with a sharp knife, cleaning the knife with hot water if it gets too messy.