Say, What’s in These Brownies? Um, Deliciousness…
Nyquil brownies…yeah, I said it. You look a little sick and also a little skinny, so I thought I would do you a favor. You’re welcome.
This recipe is actually a hack of the clutch recipe of my best friend Kate’s mom’s brownie recipe, combined with the idea of Nyquil Brownies as featured on Bittersweet Blog. Let me tell you this, if ever there were two recipes that were meant to be combined, it’s these two. I stumbled upon the Nyquil Brownie recipe on FoodBuzz and laughed my ass off – they were touted as a way to get rid of unwanted house guests, but for me, they proved a way to get rid of the noxious green swill in my medicine cabinet. I hate that shit with a passion and yet it still ends up next to the Mucinex every winter. WTF, Nyquil? Bittersweet has you whip up a lovely cheesecake topping for boxed brownie mix, and spikes the creamy goodness with a shot of the mint Nyquil. Genius, I thought, and I immediately tucked the recipe away.
Though I’m no baker, I recently fell in love with Pat O’Malley’s super fudgy, failproof brownie recipe. They taste like gourmet, are easier than box brownies and satisfy an addict’s level of chocolate craving. I don’t know why I just thought of the song Constant Craving, but if K.D. Lang came over, I’d serve these brownies. But I digress – these brownies deserved some sort of crowning glory, and I decided what-the-hell, how about Bittersweet’s Nyquil topping.
I liken them to Thin Mints in taste. The hubby said they remind him of Andes Mints. I didn’t really get a definitive response from my other buddies munching with me other than “mmmmmmmm”. Best of all, they didn’t make us sleepy so much as blissfully happy that we thought to put all of the goodness together in a pan. So I’m sorry if you’re looking for a way to kick people out of your house – this doesn’t seem to work as quickly as I had hoped. But it does seem to work to make some culinary excellence, so I’m fucking fine with it.
The cream cheese topping was thick for me, so rather than bake in a rectangular pan, I cooked mine in a 9 in. round pan (3 in. tall) just like a cake. This works REALLY well and looks gorgeous when you cut into it – like a giant chocolate mint cheesecake. If, however, you’d like to go with traditional brownie squares, use a 13×9 pan and cut the cooking time down a bit to keep the brownies moist – about 10 minutes.
Nyquil-Induced Trishy Lou Brownies
Ingredients
1 package cream cheese softened
1/2 c. of sugar
1 egg
1 shot of green Nyquil (or 1 tbs. of creme de menthe, or 1 tsp of peppermint extract plus 4 drops of green food coloring)
1 stick plus 3 tbs. of butter (11 tbs.)
4 oz. of baking chocolate (4 squares)
1 1/3 c. of flour
1 tsp. of baking powder
1/2 tsp. of salt
2 tsp. of vanilla
1 tsp. of peppermint extract
4 eggs
2 c. of sugar
Preheat oven to 350°.
Using a stand mixer (or with a hand mixer and a bowl), cream together the sugar, cream cheese and Nyquil (or mint flavor of choice) until smooth. Add egg and blend until creamy. Set aside.
In a large, microwave-safe bowl, add butter and then the chocolate on top. Microwave until melted (about 1 1/2 minutes) in 30 second intervals, taking mixture out to stir in between.
Sift the flour, baking powder, salt and sugar over the melted chocolate. Stir. Add the vanilla, peppermint extract and eggs and stir. Do not overmix.
Pour brownie batter into a buttered (or cooking sprayed) 9 in. round baking pan. Pour the cream cheese mixture on top and spread evenly to cover the brownie batter. Bake for 45 minutes until the edges are cooked through and the middle of the brownies are just set. When cooled, cut into wedges and serve.
