Why brownies?

I’ve always loved traditional fudge brownies. It always had that perfect ratio of chewiness and chocolatey goodness. What if I added some things to it, like some homemade love or some personality? This brownie recipe has two parts of brownie goodness. The first part, in which you make frosting. In the second part, you make the brownie itself. This recipe is designed to be changed in ways to fit someone’s tastes. If the original measurements for each part are followed, go ahead and mix between your tastes to make it more like your brownies.

Level of difficulty

Easy

Time

Frosting

Prep: 5 – 10 minutes

Brownies

Prep: 15 minutes

Cooking: 20 minutes

Total

40 – 50 minutes

Part 1 – Frosting

Ingredients list

· 6 Tbsps. softened butter

· 6 Tbsps. HERSHEY’s cocoa powder

· 2 Tbsps. honey

· 1 Tsp vanilla extract

· 2 cups powdered sugar

· 2-6 Tbsps. milk – Whole milk recommended

· 2 Tbsps. cashews – Salted cashews recommended

Instructions

1. Chop up cashews until they turn into small grains, feel free to adjust size of grains to personal liking – Avoid making grains too small, or else it’ll turn into a powder.

2. Beat butter, cocoa, honey and vanilla in a small bowl until blended.

3. Add powdered sugar and milk; beat to spreading consistency. Then, fold chopped cashews into frosting.

4. Put a lid over the bowl and put it into fridge; save for later.

Part 2 – Brownies

Ingredients list

· 1/2 cup unsalted butter – Melted and HOT

· 1 Tbsp olive oil or coconut oil

· 1 1/8 cup granulated white sugar

· 2 large eggs

· 2 tps pure vanilla extract

· 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

· 1/2 cup HERSHEY’s cocoa powder

· 1/4 teaspoon salt

· 1 Tbsp chocolate chips

· Raspberries

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.

2. Lightly grease an 8-inch square baking pan (glass baking pan recommended) with cooking oil spray.

3. Combine hot melted butter, oil, and sugar in a medium-sized bowl. Mix well for about a minute. Add eggs and vanilla; beat until lighter in color (another minute).

4. Sift in flour, cocoa powder and salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until JUST combined (do NOT overbeat the brownie mixture, as it will make your brownies stiff and flat).

5. Pour batter into prepared pan. Using a baking spatula, smooth out the top after pouring the batter.

6. Bake for 20-25 minutes, or until it is cooked through. If testing with a toothpick, nothing should stick to the toothpick when cooked all the way through.

7. Allow the pan to cool to room temperature, then cut into 16 brownies.

8. To assemble, take out the frosting that was made before and put it into a piping bag (if you don’t have a piping bag, cut the tip off a zip-lock bag to substitute). Pipe and evenly distribute the frosting onto each brownie. Level the frosting out using a spoon or small flat utensil if necessary.

9. Top each brownie with one raspberry.

Additional add-ins

This recipe is extremely customizable, as certain additional ingredients could be added and/or removed. You could substitute the raspberries for blueberries, or if you have a nut allergy, you could remove the cashews and add more salt instead. It is completely okay to change these ingredients to personal taste.

Final Product

Commentary

This recipe was extremely easy to do, and it came out absolutely delicious! What I particularly liked about this recipe was the different flavor profiles besides chocolate. I am not a huge one-note chocolate fan, so I decided to add fruit and nuts for multiple flavor profiles. The freshness of the raspberry, pared with the soft crunch of the cashews brought everything together. Have a bite for yourself by trying this recipe out!