S'mores Brownies

I needed some inspiration for something to make this weekend, so I looked over some food blogs, but eventually landed on food network's website. I was searching for something that looked good, so after browsing the site for a while, I found the top 100 recipes of 2007. At number 8 was this recipe for a smores brownie. My insatiable sweet tooth decided for me that the brownies would be what I made.

I ended up cheating a little because I'm lazy, so I didn't use the aluminum foil since I was using a silicone pan (bad idea!!!). I also found that when cooking the crust in the silicone pan, it only took like 10 minutes to cook, not the 20, so it looks a little on the crispy side.

I also added some chocolate chunks to the batter because I have a ton of chocolate that is about to expire.

While the brownies were good, they weren't the life altering brownies that I expected them to be, considering they were #8 on the top 100 list.




Recipe:

Crust:
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 1/2 cups crushed graham cracker crumbs
2 tablespoons sugar
Pinch fine salt

Brownie:
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 cup packed light brown sugar
3/4 cup white sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
4 large cold eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour

I also added some chocolate chunks since I had some and they were about to expire. Plus, more chocolate is always a good thing.

Topping:
4 cups large marshmallows - I used mini marshmallows

Preparation:

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and heat oven to 325 degrees F. Line an 8 by-8-inch square baking pan with foil so it hangs over the edges by about 1 inch.

For the crust: Lightly butter the foil with some of the melted butter. Stir the rest of the butter together with the crumbs, sugar, and salt in a medium bowl. Press the crumb mixture evenly over the bottom of the pan. Bake until golden brown, about 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, make the brownie. Put the butter and chocolate in a medium microwave safe bowl. Melt in the microwave on 75 percent power for 2 minutes. Stir, and microwave again until completely melted, about 2 minutes more. Alternatively, put the butter and chocolate in a heatproof bowl. Bring a saucepan filled with 1 inch or so of water to a very slow simmer; set the bowl on the pan without touching the water. Stir occasionally until melted. Stir the light brown and white sugars, vanilla and salt into the melted chocolate. Add the eggs and beat vigorously to make a thick and glossy batter. Add the flour and stir until just incorporated.

Pour batter into the prepared pan. Bake until the top is crispy and a toothpick inserted into the middle comes out mostly clean, with a few crumbs, about 40 to 45 minutes.

Remove from the oven and carefully position a rack about 6 inches from the broiler and preheat on low. Layer marshmallows across the top and toast under the broiler until golden, (keep an eye on it, it can go quick), about 2 minutes. Cool on a rack, gently removing the brownies from the pan using the aluminum flaps. Carefully separate any marshmallow from the foil and fold away.