Taking It and Making It Your Own

Why people decide to make baking things difficult is beyond me. They see a photo of something and automatically make themselves believe it's beyond their grasp to make it simply because it looks complicated.

I will now admit that, once, I was the same way. Changing my way of thinking was the best thing I have ever done where food is concerned. You can't look at something, decide it's too "hard" to make and then walk away from it wishing you could do it. Instead, you have to find a way to make IT work for YOU.

That is what I did today with these brownies.

People complain about boxed mixes way too much. What they don't understand is that, for the most part, everything in a mix is what you'd put into it yourself when you're baking from scratch. All the "added" things, well, have you looked at what's really in your all-purpose flour or even your confectioner's sugar? Yeah. The fact that there is a list of things in them isn't all that different, is it?

You have your basic Triple Chunk Brownie Mix.

You can get this at pretty much any grocery store in America and they are amazing on their own. But, what if you want to spruce things up a bit, make them more special?

Adding candy is a good way to do that. But, don't put it IN the mix, put it on TOP of it.

After a bit of debate over plain chocolate or something else, I picked up a bag of Ghirardelli milk chocolate caramel filled squares. Again, something you can find just about anywhere that sells candy. Don't believe me? I bought my bag at Dollar General for $3.50. The price might sound steep for a bag of only a few squares but they're worth it. An affordable luxury, if you will.

All I did was make the brownies according to the directions on the box and, as soon as they were out of the oven and still piping hot, placed rows of the unwrapped squares along the top so the chocolate would melt to the brownie, making sticking a fork through it much easier when you're ready to eat it.

With brownies, anything is possible! Just use your imagination. But, in case your imagination is lacking, here are a few ideas of the candies and such you can use to top your favorite brownies:

• Hershey's Cookies N Cream bars
• Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark
• Heath Bars
• Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
• Crushed chocolate Pocky sticks
• Flavored marshmallows (such as gingerbread)
• Cadbury Dairy Milk bars
• Almond Joy bars

(All photos used here are my own and have been watermarked as such.)