I love chocolate – and brownies are no exception! I’m absolutely not opposed to a box mix, either – in fact, that’s the way brownies happen at my house, mostly due to time and convenience.
But every so often, I want to kind of jazz things up. You’ve been to bakeries or restaurants that have mouth-watering, gourmet brownies on their menu – and they seem like such a special treat, don’t they?
Well today I’m going to share three easy ways to upgrade a batch of box mixed brownies – all super simple and super delicious!
To start, I always get the Aldi brand brownie mix (under a buck!), all of the ingredients required on the box, my Pampered Chef brownie pan, and my Kuppet stand mixer. If you don’t have a friend that sells Pampered Chef, let me know – I don’t sell it but have a handful of friends that do and would be happy to connect you. This pan is an amazing purchase because it makes individual brownies, so each brownie has corners and a soft center! And it’s perfect for baking like I will today, with various toppings.
Go ahead and follow most of the directions on the box – preheat the oven as directed, mix the batter, and pour into the pan.
Pro-Tip: I use an ice cream scoop to portion my batter. One and a half to two scoops fits perfectly in this pan!
Before you put your brownies in the oven, it’s time to add the toppings! I’m going to make three different delicious toppings – one per row of brownies in this pan.
My toppings will be: pretzel pieces, butterscotch ad walnut, and peanut butter.
It’s time to add your toppings! But first, remember, when you are baking with add-in items like pretzels, flavored baking chips, or nuts, you need to lightly coat those items in flour. Coating them in flour before adding them to your baking mixture ensures that they won’t all sink to the bottom of your baked goods! By coating them with flour, they’ll stick to the mixture nicely and bake within the item, rather than falling due to their added weight during their time in the heated oven.
Go ahead and sprinkle your add-in items to the top of your brownies. I’m going to put broken pieces of pretzel on my first row, then a mixture of butterscotch chips and walnut pieces to my second row.
Now, to add the peanut butter! There are even lovelier ways of adding peanut butter, but I’m a fan of a big glob. I think it tastes more like a Reese’s cup if there’s a puddle of peanut butter in the center. I just take a fork, dip it in my al-natural peanut butter, and drop a glob onto the top center of the last row of brownies.
Bake these in a preheated oven (as directed on the original box). I do find that with additional items, I sometimes need an extra minute or two in the oven.
You can serve these warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream – or just as they are! They are delicious and, quite frankly, next-level either way!
Enjoy!
Kate with a Twang 