Paula Deen's Creme De Menthe Brownies Recipe - Food.com (2024)

FAQs

What can I add to brownies to make them better? ›

Adding a layer of cream cheese, marshmallow fluff, caramel, or peanut butter goes a long way towards turning a mix into something special. You can add this layer before or after baking the brownies.

Crushed potato chips, pretzels, and salted nuts stirred in or sprinkled on before baking can add textural interest, plus a little savoriness that can make the rich chocolate flavor more pronounced. A shower of sea salt or flaky salt like Maldon over baked brownies before slicing makes for a dramatic, sparkly finish.

The cakes would lose structure, collapse, and turn out stodgy. But for brownies, rapping works wonders: It removes tiny air pockets, giving you a more dense batter, which translates to fudgy, impossibly rich brownies. After you drop the pan, you can actually see the brownies become more compact.

So what's the difference between fudgy and chewy brownies? The chewy brownie (pictured above) has an additional egg and 1/4 cup more flour than the fudgy brownies, which give the brownie a little more “bite”. Because baking brownies can be a little tricky, here are some general tips for more brownie baking success…

If you opt to add more eggs, say double the amount, something interesting happens. Even though you are adding more moisture, the air bubbles that you catch in the extra eggs add volume, which decreases the density of your final product. This makes your brownies rise and gives them a much more cake-like texture.

One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil. For similar reasons to using milk, butter adds a rich and more decadent quality to the batter.

Replacing Oil with Butter

It couldn't be easier to substitute butter for oil using a 1:1 ratio. This should work with olive, canola, vegetable, and coconut oils. Simply melt and cool the butter to room temperature, then continue with your recipe. (If the recipe calls for ½ cup oil, use ½ cup melted and cooled butter.)

If you want something that will add moisture to your brownie batter, try using applesauce or a mashed banana. Neither of those are vegetable oil either, but they work pretty well in baked goods. Banana combines well with chocolate. Another possible substitution would be a flax egg.

If you want a fudgy chocolate brownie, use melted butter. For cakey brownies, beating softened butter and sugar together to create air pockets will make your brownies lighter and cakier.

It provides moisture, which keeps the baked goods soft and tender, just like oil does. For most recipes, it's a one-to-one substitution, and works in everything from cakes to muffins. Left: brownies made with oil; Right: brownies made with mayonnaise.

What makes a brownie more fudgy? ›

Fudgy brownies have a higher fat-to-flour ratio than cakey ones. So add more fat—in this case, butter and chocolate. A cakey batch has more flour and relies on baking powder for leavening. The amount of sugar and eggs does not change whether you're going fudgy or cakey.

Brownies were originally called Rosebuds and were founded by Lord Baden-Powell after the younger sisters of the Guides and Scouts showed an interest in joining the Guide Association. The Girl Guides Gazette said that Rosebuds wore a dark blue skirt, knitted jersey, cap or tam and the Rosebud Brooch.

Name change to be phased in by September

Girl Guides of Canada has changed the name of its Brownies program in an effort to be more inclusive. On Jan. 11, the organization announced Brownies will now be called Embers. Embers is the program for seven and eight-year-old girls.

brownie, in English and Scottish folklore, a small, industrious fairy or hobgoblin believed to inhabit houses and barns. Rarely seen, he was often heard at night, cleaning and doing housework; he also sometimes mischievously disarranged rooms.

One change is to use milk or heavy cream instead of water. This change will make brownies more moist and gooey since milk is more fatty and flavorful than water. A second change is to use butter instead of oil. For similar reasons to using milk, butter adds a rich and more decadent quality to the batter.

Storing Brownies in the Refrigerator

Unlike cookies or cakes that tend to dry out more quickly in the fridge than at room temperature, the fridge helps brownies to stay moist longer.

You can speed the cooling process by refrigerating the brownies in the pan, or by freezing them, but we think letting them cool at room temperature will give you the best results.

You can absolutely substitute butter for the vegetable oil. Use the same quantity specified in the directions (for example, if it calls for 1/3 cup of oil, use 5 1/3 tablespoons of butter). Melt it down, then let it cool a bit. You might not ever go back to oil!