Butterscotch Brownies with Brown Sugar Butter Icing

I've been drooling over these for a week now. I found the recipe over on Culinary in the Desert. I made a half batch and baked them in an 11" x 7" pan. I probably should have used a 13" x 9" pan to stay true to the recipe. These puffed up much more than I expected, but the icing didn't all sink down into the center, so it worked well. I'll likely make these again another day.

Butterscotch Brownies With Brown Sugar Butter Icing

For the batter:

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
16 tablespoons (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
3 cups packed brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla

For the icing:

16 tablespoons (1 cup or 2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 cups packed brown sugar
heaping 1/4 teaspoon salt
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar
1/3 cup half-and-half
1 tablespoon vanilla

To prepare the batter:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder and salt.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together butter and sugar until smooth and creamy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well combined after each. Mix in vanilla. Add dry ingredients and mix just until combined.

Pour mixture into a 13" x 18" half-sheet pan coated with nonstick spray, smoothing the top with an off-set spatula. Place pan into the oven and bake until the bars are set and slightly puffed, about 25 to 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely.

To prepare the icing:

In a medium saucepan, melt butter, brown sugar and salt over medium heat. As soon as the mixture is lightly bubbling, reduce heat to medium-low and cook, stirring, for 2 minutes. Remove from the heat and set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, beat together confectioners' sugar, half-and-half and vanilla until smooth. Pour in the melted butter mixture and beat until combined. Immediately spread icing over brownies and allow to sit for 30 minutes before cutting into squares.

Makes about 30 brownies (though you could get away with cutting them smaller as they are fairly rich).

Rattlesnake Brownies

No I didn't put snake in the brownies. A rattlesnake is a layered shot with equal parts Kahlua, Creme de Cocoa, and Irish Cream, although I prefer them mixed and chilled (thanks McNugget). This recipe is based on the Boozy Irish Cream Brownies found on Baking Bites. I figured if Bailey's brownies were good, Rattlesnake brownies would be even better. I did change the glaze recipe, though. It was just coming out too thick for me. And the extra booze can't hurt.

Rattlesnake Brownies

Brownies:
1/3 cup butter
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1 egg
1 tsp. vanilla
3/4 cup flour
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup Rattlesnakes (or just shy of 3 Tbsp. Kahlua, 3 Tbsp. Creme de Cocoa, and 3 Tbsp. Irish Cream)

Glaze:
2 2/3 Tbsp. butter (just us the remainder of the stick from the brownies)
2 Tbsp. Rattlesnakes (or 2 tsp. Kahlua, 2 tsp. Creme de Cocoa, and 2 tsp. Irish Cream)
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 cup powdered sugar

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x9-inch square baking dish. In a medium saucepan, melt butter. Mix in sugar and cocoa powder until smooth. In a large bowl, combine flour, baking soda, and salt. Mix in cocoa mixture. Add egg, vanilla, and rattlesnake mix.

Bake for 22-26 minutes, until it tests done with a toothpick.

While the brownie bakes make the glaze. In your saucepan (no need to wash, we're starting with butter, cocoa, and sugar anyway), melt butter. Add cocoa. Off the heat add Rattlesnake mix and powdered sugar. (If it's too thick, thin a bit more with milk or more Rattlesnake mix.) Pour the glaze over the brownies as soon as they come out of the oven. Spread the glaze out to the corners and let cool.

Elvis Gooey Butter Cake

We tried this one out last week after the Chess Cake. It seemed like it should be a similar cake. It turned out really well, but I think I would have liked to have 2 eggs in the cake part instead of the one Paula uses. The cake layer was a bit dry. We enjoyed the moistness in the Chess Cake. But I would try this one again.

Elvis Gooey Butter Cake
Recipe courtesy Paula Deen

Cake:
1 (18 1/4-ounce) package yellow cake mix
1 egg
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter, melted
Mint leaves, for garnish
Whipped cream, for garnish

Filling:
1 (8-ounce) package cream cheese, softened
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 whole banana
8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
1 (16-ounce) box powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.

Combine the cake mix, egg, and butter together and mix well. Pat into a lightly greased glass 13 by 9-inch baking pan. Prepare the filling.

Beat the cream cheese until smooth. Add the eggs and vanilla. Add the peanut butter; beat. Add the banana and butter and mix well. Add the powdered sugar and mix well. Spread over the cake mixture. Bake for 45 to 50 minutes. You want the center to be a little gooey, so do not over bake. Top each cake slice with a mint leaf and dollop of whipped cream.

Chess Cake

We tried a Chess Pie over the weekend. It was good, very lemony and not really what we were after. My husband remembered something from when he was young in Louisville, Ky. So I looked up a Chess Cake and found several recipes to try. I settled on one from Allrecipes. This cake seems very much like Paula Dean's Gooey Butter Cake, although I've never made one. This recipe uses 2 eggs in the crust layer, many only use 1; and 4 cups powdered sugar in the filling, most use 1 lb. (approx. 4 3/4 cups) powdered sugar. So this is probably one of the more gooey Chess Cakes. I also added about 1 tsp. vanilla to the filling. It was really good. Our 4 year old thought we should make it again, so I guess it's a winner.

Chess Cake

INGREDIENTS

• 1 (18.25 ounce) package yellow cake mix
• 2 eggs
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1 (8 ounce) package cream cheese, softened
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 2 eggs
• 4 cups confectioners' sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
  

DIRECTIONS

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease and flour one 9 x 13 inch pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together cake mix, 2 eggs, and 1/2 cup melted butter. Put into prepared pan.
3. In another bowl, Beat cream cheese until smooth. Blend in 1/2 cup melted butter, vanilla, and 2 eggs. Gradually beat in the confectioner's sugar. Pour over the crust mixture already in the pan.
4. Bake for 1 hour. Cool.