Making Brownies

Brownies are crowd pleasers. They are quick and easy and full of chocolate goodness. Brownies are basics—the little black dress of my dessert wardrobe.

But the things that make an LBD stand out are your trimmings—do you wear the kickass heels or the feminine shawl? Do you add a punch of color or smooth, cool, metal details? Brownies are the same way—it’s all about how you accessorize.

You can display them classic and plain if you want, but why not accentuate the awesome?

Here are some ways to dress up brownies:

1. Add a teaspoon of extract—I favor orange, but coffee is also an excellent choice. Coffee and chocolate complement each other superbly.
2. Cutting squares is messy—why not pre-portion your brownies in cupcake liners? This gives you a very neat and clean presentation.
3. Add in a sauce or jam—pour your batter into the tin and then drizzle any kind of ice-cream sauce (like caramel, hot fudge,  strawberry jam, chocolate sauce, pineapple jelly, peanut butter) and swirly in through the batter in pretty patterns.
4. Sweeten cream cheese with powdered sugar to taste and then spread over a cooled pan of brownies. You may also want to drizzle on top of this with a strawberry or raspberry jam. And then top with chocolate chips/chunks. Yes, I know that sounds like a heart attack. All I’m saying is enjoy responsibly. Be sure to pop the cream cheese covered brownies back into the fridge to firm up before cutting them into squares.
5. The brownie sundae’s from last week’s post are still on my to do list, but even dressing up a regular cut brownie with ice cream would be delicious.

So there you have it, five new ways to dress to impress with brownies.

As for me, I unwrapped and strategically placed Hershey kisses into my brownies.

Delightful!