Grasshopper Brownies - with and without coconut!

I was in Alaska last summer and visited a nice tourist town called Seward. While there, my sister and I wandered around and discovered this cute cafe/bakery place. I cannot for the life of me remember the name of the cafe, but I do remember that they had the most incredible brownies I've ever had. I tried looking up the cafe, but I wasn't able to find the name of these delectable brownies! So, I tried looking for recipes that included the parts I could remember: brownie layer and mint layer plus a bit of toasted coconut.
I searched online and found a recipe on epicurious for Grasshopper Brownies. It didn't call for any coconut, so I decided to conduct an experiment: one-third of my brownies would follow the original recipe, one-third would have a layer of coconut on top of the brownie, and one-third of my brownies would have the coconut mixed into the brownie layer.
Thus, my adventure for a tasty brownie-minty treat began...

Brownie Layer Ingredients
1 box of Betty Crocker Fudge Brownies (or style of your choice)
2/3 cup oil
1/4 cup water
2 eggs

Brownie Layer Directions
Mix ingredients until well blended. Pour into a 9"x13" greased pan. Bake for 22-26 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Mint Ganache Layer Ingredients
1/2 cup heavy cream
10 oz fine-quality white chocolate, chopped
2 tablespoons green creme de menthe
1 teaspoon peppermint extract

Mint Ganache Layer Directions
Bring cream and white chocolate to a simmer in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan. Then, whisk until smooth. Stir in the creme de menthe and peppermint extract. Pour into a medium-sized bowl and chill, covered. Stir every 15 minutes or so, until thick. It takes about 1 hour.

Chocolate Ganache Layer Ingredients
1 cup heavy cream
10 oz fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped

Chocolate Ganache Layer Directions
Bring cream and bittersweet chocolate to a simmer in a 2- to 3-quart saucepan and remove from heat. Whisk until smooth. Pour into a bowl and chill, covered. Stir every 15 minutes, until thick. It takes about 30 minutes.

Grasshopper Brownie - Assemble Layers
Pour the mint layer over the top and smooth with a spatula. You can either chill for 30 minutes and let the mint layer set, or you can pour the chocolate layer on immediately afterwards. I poured the chocolate on and didn't notice any problems. Just make sure the mint layer is well-chilled! :)

If you want to try your brownies with coconut, I found that I liked the coconut best when it was toasted (takes about 5-10 minutes on a cookie sheet at 350 degrees F) and mixed in to the brownie batter itself. After cooking the brownies like normal, add the "grasshopper" layers and you have coconut Grasshopper brownies!

I shared the brownies with my husband, mother, and step-father. They all enjoyed them! They are very rich, so I divided the brownies into very small squares (about 30 squares for a 9" x 13" pan). Absolutely wonderful recipe!

Tuxedo Brownie Cups - Another innovative way to make your brownies more fun!

My mom is a huge Pampered Chef fan and is always trying out their recipes. When she throws little get-togethers, I am fortunate enough to be invited and have the pleasure of taste-testing these delights. One of my absolute favorite recipes is called Tuxedo Cups.

You take your favorite boxed brownie mix (mine happens to be Betty Crocker's fudge brownies) and add a delightful whipped cream / cream cheese topping that you then decorate with strawberries. It tastes chocolatey, creamy, and fruity all at once!



Ingredients
Cooking spray with flour
1 package fudge brownie mix (plus 2 eggs, 1/4 cup water, 1/4 cup oil)
1 oz white chocolate chips (or 2 squares of white baking chocolate)
2 tbsp milk
8 oz cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1 cup whipped topping (I made my own with 8 oz heavy whipping cream and 1/4 powdered sugar - there will be left whipped cream as you only use one cup of the final product)
1 pint small strawberries, sliced

Directions
Preheat oven to 325°F. Spray cups of mini-muffin pan with nonstick cooking spray with flour. Prepare brownie mix according to package directions for cake-like brownies. Fill wells of pan two-thirds full.*

Bake 14 minutes or until edges are set. Remove pan from oven and immediately press tops of brownies to make indentations using a teaspoon or round dowel. Cool in pan for about 15 minutes. Then, remove the brownies from the pan to cool completely.

Combine white chocolate and milk in a small, microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on high for 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Meanwhile, in a large mixing bowl, combine cream cheese and sugar; mix well. Gradually stir in the white chocolate mixture until smooth. Fold in whipped topping.

Pipe cream cheese mixture into brownie cups and top with strawberries. If you don't have a cake decorating set (i.e. bag and tips), use a Zip-Loc plastic baggie and cut off a small chuck of one of the lower corners. Fill the baggie with the whipped topping and begin piping!

Refrigerate the Tuxedo Brownies for 1-3 hours before serving.

*Note: I filled my cupcake pan somewhere between 2/3 and 3/4. It made 24 cupcakes and had a bit of leftover batter that I put in a 1-cup Pyrex round glass container and cooked as a large, personal brownie circle (for my husband who likes a more traditional brownie that I do).

This dessert is perfect for a small gathering of friends or potluck! Enjoy!

Cheesecake brownies (includes: from scratch and from the box methods)

I have always had a bit of a sweet tooth and nothing gets me like a really good chocolate cake or chewy delicious brownies! When my mom started making cheesecake brownies I thought I was in Heaven! They have all the delicious chewy-ness of regular brownies with the added bonus of a cheesecake-like layer. This fantastic dessert will leave your guests begging for the recipe.

That being said, there are a couple of methods to make this dessert. Method 1 involves my grandma's homemade Hershey's syrup brownies with the added cream cheese layer. Method 2 is the boxed brownies (still very tasty) and cream cheese layer. If you are a stickler for making things from scratch, I strongly recommend the Hershey's brownies. If you've already got a box of brownies or wanna whip something together quick, go for one of Betty Crocker's boxed brownies. In either case, always make the cream cheese layer first as it will need to be soft.

Cream Cheese Layer
Ingredients
2 packages (8oz) cream cheese (I recommend Philadelphia 1/3 less fat cream cheese)
1/2 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
1 large egg


Directions
Beat all filling ingredients together until well mixed and set aside.

*Note: this recipe makes a lot of the cream cheese layer, like 50% of the brownie is actual brownie and 50% is cream cheese layer. If you want more like 1/3 to 2/3 cream cheese to brownie, I recommend cutting the cream cheese in half (1 package), reducing the sugar to 1/4 cup, and reducing vanilla to 1 tsp. One egg still works just fine for the half batch.


Hershey's Syrup Brownies
Ingredients
1 cup sugar
1 stick margarine, softened
4 eggs
1 can Hershey's syrup
1 cup flour



Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Cream together the margarine and sugar. Mix in eggs two at a time. Add the flour and mix. Then, stir in the Hershey's syrup. Pour in a 9"x13" greased pan.


Betty Crocker Boxed Brownies (follow the directions for "cake-like brownies")
Ingredients
1 box of Betty Crocker Original Supreme (or style of your choice)
1/4 cup oil
3/4 cup water
2 eggs *(makes the brownies cake-like and thus easier to marble)

Directions
Mix ingredients until well blended. Pour into a 9"x13" greased pan.

Adding the cream cheese layer: After you have poured the brownie batter into your greased pan, start adding spoonfuls of the cream cheese layer to about 6 points spread out on the brownie layer. Then use a knife or spoon and drag it length-wise across the pan at about four points. Next, go cross-wise in the pan about 6 times. You should start seeing the marbled pattern of brownie and cream cheese combining. Do this a few more times. If you still have cream cheese layer left, you may add more and marble again, or just save it for something else.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out mostly dry (keeping in mind that the cream cheese layer may stick a little more to the toothpick than batter).

I really hope you enjoy these delicious brownies! They go great with whipped cream, ice cream, strawberries, or just by themselves.