Cookies & Cream Brownies

Hi.  It’s been a long time, too long.  Before I tell you about this super easy &super yummy brownie I’d like to say thanks to everyone who left comments & sent emails asking how I was doing.  It meant a lot and made my day every time I got one.   The kids and I are doing well.  Hopefully this will be a “quieter” year for us.  I don’t know how much I’ll be blogging but I’m not going to let it get to this point again. The awkward, I don’t know where to begin one.  I’m thinking we start with brownies………

Cookies & cream brownies to be exact.  :)  I made them to give as a thank you to a few of the lunch ladies at Babygirl’s school.  I was in charge of planning the teacher’s Welcome Back Breakfast this year and they catered it.  I don’t know if they liked them, but I can tell you these were a big hit with my three.

I adapted the recipe from one I made before that I found on Karen’s blog Mignardise.  I’m not going to give you a recipe for the brownie base.  Just use your favorite one or a  box like I did.  Are you shocked by my craziness?  Don’t be.  I’ve yet to have someone ask me if my brownies were boxed and I haven’t found a homemade recipe that rocked my world so, boxed it is. 

Cookies & Cream Brownies

*One batch brownies with chopped up Oreos added.

*Cookies & Cream Frosting, doubled :)

2 cups powdered sugar
4 Tbsp. butter, room temperature
1 Tbsp. heavy cream, plus a little extra
approx. 8 oreos, crushed well
Combine all frosting ingredients except the oreos and beat with a hand mixer until light and fluffy. You may need to add a bit more heavy cream to get a spreadable consistency. Mix in crushed oreos (more or less). Spread frosting evenly over cooled brownies.

You can fancy these up by topping each bar with an oreo cookie half like I did or you can top the whole thing with ganache thus smothering the “cream” between two layers of chocolate.

Enjoy!

I Know What You’re Thinking…..

You’re thinking these look familiar but they’re not the mini cheesecakes I blogged about recently. These are the Twins’ birthday request.  Last Saturday was their 13th birthday. A few days prior I asked them if there was anything special they’d like me to bake for them.  Jalen quickly responded with a request for a cookies and cream ice cream cake.  Devon’s request was for a cookie cake.   After much deliberation they decided on the cookies and cream ice cream cake.   Though the request was made for a cake I decided to go with a brownie base as they love to top their brownies with ice cream and generally take a pass on chocolate cake.  It only took me a minute longer to remember seeing these two posts on Annie’s Eats. 

Here’s Annie’s post for the brownies and directions which I used as my guideline.  While I used Annie’s brownie recipe  I’m pretty certain you can use whichever one floats your boat.  You could even use your fave boxed brownie mix.  My biggest change was to use my mini cheesecake pan (Love it!) and to top my brownies with a different flavor ice cream.  I also made standard size ice cream brownies cupcakes as I had plenty of batter left over.  Besides being super cool looking and tasting great the stand out part of this dessert was the cookies and cream ice cream. 

My only bit of advice is to let your ice cream brownie cupcakes sit out for several minutes before peeling off the cupcake liner but not too long.  It becomes mess once the ice cream truly starts to melt.  Even after peeling the liner off you’ll need to let it sit for several more minutes as the brownie will be difficult to cut into with your spoon otherwise.   It’s a pain but wait as it doesn’t taste as good when the brownie is hard as a rock.

Cookies and Cream Ice Cream
Ingredients:
1 cup whole milk
2 cups heavy whipping cream
6 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 tbsp. vanilla extract
15-20 Oreo cookies, coarsely chopped

Directions:
Combine the milk and cream in a saucepan over medium heat.  Heat until bubbles form around the edges.  In a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and sugar until smooth and well combined.  Slowly add the warm milk mixture to the egg yolk mixture, whisking constantly to prevent curdling.

Pour the mixture back into the saucepan.   Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, about 5-8 minutes, until the mixture is thickened and coats the back of a spoon (about 175 degrees F on an instant read thermometer).  Pour the liquid through a fine mesh sieve into a bowl.  Stir in the vanilla extract.  Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator until completely chilled.

Once the mixture is well chilled, pour into an ice cream maker and freeze according to the manufacturer’s instructions.  Once the mixture is softly frozen, transfer half of it to a storage container.  Add half of the chopped Oreo pieces and fold in gently with a rubber spatula.  Add the remaining ice cream and Oreo pieces to the container, and fold once more until the mixture is evenly combined.  Freeze until completely hardened.

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