Cosmic Brownies

These Cosmic Brownies are very similar to Little Debbie’s brand brownies and are super fudgy and rich.

We had a family dinner on Sunday for our Memorial Day celebration.  A couple of Kevin’s sisters and their families and his parents all met at Cindy’s for dinner.  A couple of Kevin’s aunts (his mom’s sisters) were also visiting from Idaho, so it was fun to get together and see everyone.  I was on dessert duty (surprise!).  I made these Cosmic Brownies and to go along with those I also made Dorie’s Lots of Ways Banana Cake.

This picture is from TWD, July 2010, I didn’t take pictures of the cake this time.

I was out of powdered sugar, so I just covered it with whipped cream.  It tasted great.  I also made these Blueberry Cream Cheese Oat Bars (still trying to deplete that freezer supply of blueberries). 

This picture is from January 2011, I didn’t take pictures of the bars this time.

But back to the brownies.

I had recently seen these brownies at Amanda’s blog,  Fake Ginger and she saw them at Elle's New England Kitchen to which she adapted a recipe from Very Best Baking.  These brownies are super dense, rich and fudgy.  They are then frosted with a dark chocolate ganache and have colorful sprinkles on top.  They are quite similar to Little Debbie Cosmic Brownies.  If you like super fudgy brownies, you should try these.  I’ve just made them for the second time since Sunday.  I actually only took one little bite of  a piece Sam didn’t finish, but these disappeared quickly at the family dinner!

Cosmic Brownies, adapted from Very Best Baking and Elle and Amanda, by Katrina, Baking and Boys!

1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)

2/3 cup brown sugar (147 grams)

3/4 cup butter, melted

2 tablespoons water

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1  1/3 cups all purpose flour (160 grams)

3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa (62 grams)

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

For the ganache:

1/2 cup heavy cream

7 ounces semi sweet or bittersweet chocolate

pinch of salt

candy sprinkles, for decorating

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13 inch pan with non-stick foil, or spray with cooking spray. 

In a medium sized bowl, combine melted butter, both sugars, and water with a whisk.  Whisk in the eggs and vanilla.   In another bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt.  Stir the dry ingredients in with the wet until combined.  Spread the batter into the prepared pan.  Bake for 18-20 minutes—no more.  Remove to wire rack to cool.  Once room temperature, chill in refrigerator for a few hours (or wrap well and store in freezer until needed).  Chilled or frozen/thawed brownies are the best in my opinion, but you CAN just frost them with the ganache once cooled and they are still good.

Remove the brownies from the fridge or freeze.  To make the ganache, in a small saucepan or microwave safe bowl, heat the cream until just barely starting to boil.  Pour the cream over the chocolate that is waiting in a heat proof bowl.  Let it sit for a minute or two.  Add the pinch of salt and starting the the center of the bowl, begin slowly whisking and continue to whisk moving to the edges of the bowl.  Do not over whisk, just until the chocolate is all melted and incorporated with the cream.  You will have a beautifully smooth chocolate ganache.  Let it sit for 10-15 minutes while the brownies are thawing a bit.  Spread the ganache evenly over the brownies.  Sprinkle with the candy sprinkles.  Do not wait too long to add the sprinkles if you are using previously frozen brownies as the ganache will start to harden quickly, still I was able to frost the whole thing before adding the sprinkles.

Once you’re ready to cut the brownies, remove them from the pan by lifting them out with the foil edges, peel the foil off the brownies and set them on a cutting board to cut into bars.

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We’ve been doing lots of yard work around here.  Even have photo proof of Kevin driving a tractor!  (It’s in one of my earlier posts.)  Last Saturday, we had even more helpers—Taylor and Sam gave working the tractor a try.  (Thanks, Uncle Warren!)

 

All these strangely placed wooden posts have now been removed and we’re getting ready to fence our whole property so little Chip can go outside and play more than just on a leash!  Chip is almost 10 months old and we just checked his weight.  He’s almost 8 pounds!  I don’t think our little mini Aussie is going to get over 10 pounds.  Someone we know who as an Aussie also, told us that theirs is not a mini, but is really small at 40 pounds!  (That’s really big to us!  Sam only weighs 34 pounds.)

And finally—13 years ago today I had my first baby boy!  Happy Birthday, Scottie!  We love you!  Whew—are we ready for a teenager?  Ready or not—here we go!