I am a Browniebabe! I am!

Anyhoo.. for my submission to Browniebabe Round 2 there was a lot of pressure. Pressure I put on myself, of course. I wanted my 2nd submission of delectable brownies to be as droolworthy as the first, so I spent most of our allotted time researching recipes and writing down ideas. Although I don't feel that this month's brownie packs as much punch as last month's.. I can confidently say, if you like super rich, super decadent and complete unnecessary over indulgence, then these are the brownies for you.

When I say, cut the brownies into 1" by 1" squares, I'm not kidding. These babies will guarantee a 2 pound weight gain and your teeth will beg mercy from the sweetness if you go much bigger. They are almost like candy.. seriously.

I'm a big fan of chocolate and crunch. I love chocolate covered pretzels, potato chips, celery, grasshoppers, etc. 'kay not so much the celery and grasshoppers, although I can't imagine either not benefitting from a dunk in chocolate. Hello? Chocolate makes ANYTHING better. These brownies start with a chewy brownie base, then they are covered in sweet and melty marshmallow topped off with a mixture of melted chocolate and peanut butter combined with corn flakes. Yes. Corn flakes. The kind you pour into a bowl and cover with moo juice. Those corn flakes. Yes.

I know!! Weird, eh?

But ohhhh sooooo good.. and sooo very very bad.. hee! They are already packed up and ready to go to work to be devoured by the sugar fiends in a matter of minutes. Thank the baby Jebus.

I made some alterations to this recipe, which I found on my favorite Recipezaar.com. The first thing I changed was the recipe called for only 6 TEASPOONS of cocoa powder in the brownie base. Huh? The batter wasn't even brown after I mixed the original amount in. So I threw in a few more HEAPING TABLESPOONS to get it to the color and taste of a fakkin brownie. The next change I made, was it called for 12 oz. of semi-sweet chocolate chips. I only had a 9 oz. bag of chocolate melts (the bigger, flatter, nickel sized chips which are a new product from Baker's Chocolate) so I improvised the last 3 oz. with milk chocolate and peanut butter Nestle chips I've had hanging around for God know's what. And finally, I didn't have the originally called for puffed rice cereal in the house, so I used corn flakes. And frankly, without even trying this with the puffed rice, I know the corn flakes made it even better. The crunch is much more pronounced and that's what I'm talkin' bout. ;)

Many thanks to Nancy Alexander and Country Woman magazine (the recipe is available online, but you must be a subscriber to read it so I couldn't link), as well as Recipezaar for sharing this recipe. =)

The recipe below is written with my changes. Go here for the original recipe.

Serves 36

1 c. butter, softened
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1/3 c. baking cocoa
1 c. all-purpose flour
2 tsp. vanilla extract (I used vanilla paste)
1/2 tsp. salt (I used 3/4 tsp. to give it a lil more saltiness with all that chocolate)
1 (7 oz.) jar marshmallow creme
1 c. creamy peanut butter
2 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips (12 ounces)
3 c. corn flake cereal

Preheat oven to 350º F. Grease (or spray with Pam w/flour baking non-stick spray) a 9" x 13" x 2" Pyrex baking dish, set aside.

In a mixing bowl, cream butter and sugar; add eggs. Stir in cocoa, flour, vanilla, and salt.

Spread into prepared baking pan.

Bake 25 minutes or until brownies test done.

Cool. Spread marshmallow creme over cooled brownies.

In a small saucepan, melt peanut butter and chocolate chips over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in the cereal. Spread over marshmallow layer.

Chill before cutting.

My Notes: The brownies rose as if they were going to be cake-like in the oven. But once they started to cool, they flattened out and were of the chewy variety, as I was hoping for.