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I'm sure that I am not telling you anything that you don't already know, but the world has gone completely crazy! While creating this recipe it became quite apparent just how out of control corporate greed has gotten. It all started when I pulled out an old Pampered Chef cookbook to use as inspiration for the topping for this S'mores Brownies recipe.....
but it unexpectedly turned into a math equation and total disgust for the direction the world is heading. As I describe the steps and ingredients in these ooey, gooey, chocolaty S'mores Brownies I will explain what I mean...or have you already guessed? 😉
Luckily by the time I was finished creating the most amazing S'mores Brownies that I have ever tasted, I drifted off into a sugar coma to be annoyed some other day about how ridiculous these changes are.....
How to make S'mores Brownies:
Let's start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, spray with baking spray. Set aside. Beat eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla on medium speed for 4 minutes.....
Place butter and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat and stir until until butter is melted and sugar has dissolved, 2 to 3 minutes.....
Slowly pour sugar mixtures into the cocoa mixture, beating until smooth.....
Add the flour and 2 cups of chocolate chips**, beat until combined.....
Place 14 graham crackers in a single layer on the bottom of the baking pan.....
Pour brownie mixture over the graham crackers, and spread until even.....
Bake for 30 minutes. While the brownies are baking, place marshmallows**, graham cracker pieces, and chopped Hershey bars in a large bowl. Pour melted butter over the mixture, stir to combine. Set aside. ....
Sprinkle topping over baked brownies, return to oven, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes, until the marshmallows are melted and golden brown.....
Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.....
Lift the parchment paper out of the pan, and cut your brownies on a cutting board. Are you drooling yet?
**Okay, now for my rant......
- The original Pampered Chef recipe calls for a 16 ounce bag of miniature marshmallows. Guess what, the bags are only 10 ounces now!!!
- 2 cups of chocolate chips is pretty standard in most recipes, right? Well the bags are down to 10 ounces, which is about 1 1/2 cups...so you have to buy 2 bags to create a recipe!!!
- 1 1/2 ounce Hershey candy bars...well they are 1.45 ounces which is still close enough not to ruin a recipe, so we will let that one slide.
It got me thinking about all of the recipes that are written using packaged ingredients. How many of them will not work with the current package sizes? My cocktail cakes are a perfect example. I created those recipes 10 years ago using 18.25 ounce boxes of cake mix. The cake mixes on the shelves today are only 15.25 ounces. If you add the full amount of liquid in the original recipe, you will end up with a soupy mess!!
Corporate America wants to make more money and not "look" as though they are raising their prices, but they are screwing up some old family recipes in the process!! Now look into the gooey, chocolaty center.....
Do you feel relaxed now? I mean how could you not be while staring into these fudgy brownies sitting on a crispy graham cracker base, topped with marshmallows, chocolate bars and more graham crackers? 🙂
Have you run into this issue with any of your favorite recipes?
More delicious brownie recipes:
Enjoy!!
S'mores Brownies
Ingredients
Brownies
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/4 cups Double-Dutch cocoa
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 Tablespoon espresso powder optional
- 1 Tablespoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups granulated sugar
- 1 1/2 cups unbleached, all-purpose flour
- 2 cups chocolate chips I used Ghirardelli bittersweet
- 20 graham cracker sheets divided {14 for base/6 for topping}
S'mores Topping
- 10 Ounce bag miniature marshmallows
- 6 remaining graham crackers broken into pieces
- 3 Hershey candy bars broken into pieces {I used Hershey's Special Dark}
- 3 Tablespoons unsalted butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, spray with baking spray. Set aside.
- Beat eggs, cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla on medium speed for 4 minutes.
- Place butter and sugar in a microwave-safe bowl. Heat and stir until until butter is melted and sugar has dissolved.
- Slowly pour sugar mixtures into the cocoa mixture, beating until smooth.
- Add the flour and chocolate chips, beat until combined.
- Place 14 graham crackers in a single layer on the bottom of the baking pan.
- Pour brownie mixture over the graham crackers, and spread until even.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- While the brownies are baking:
- Place marshmallows, graham cracker pieces, and chopped Hershey bars in a large bowl.
- Pour melted butter over the mixture, stir to combine. Set aside.
- Sprinkle topping over baked brownies, return to oven, and bake for 10 to 15 minutes until marshmallows are melted and golden brown.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool slightly before serving.
marcie says
These look so delicious -- I'm a sucker for s'more desserts! 🙂
Anna @ Sunny Side Ups says
Oooo...these look SO YUMMY! 🙂 I've been craving S'mores everything lately, so I have a really good feeling that these will be happening in my life really soon! Pinned!
Gina says
Girl - I hear ya! My super size can soups - the brand name & the generic used to be the same. Now the brand name is several ounces smaller. Higher price though. Then don't even get me started on how all ice cream used to be a half gallon - now they charge more & give way less. They think we don't notice - ----there was a movie once with Steve Martin - I think Father of the Bride - where he flips out in the store about how you get 10 hot dog buns in a package but only 8 come in pack of the actual dogs. Yep - insanity!!
Hope you have a great weekend - those look delish!!!
Kim @ The Baking ChocolaTess says
S'more lover here! Had to stop by and visit from Treasure Box Tuesday when I saw your link. Pinning and thats for sharing. 🙂
Amy at Ms. Toody Goo Shoes says
I make a version of these - similar, but different enough that I'm pinning these to try!
Diana Rambles says
These look fantastic!!
Michelle @ A Dish of Daily Life says
Your brownies look amazing! Perfect summertime treat! You have a good point about the sizes! That is so frustrating!
Jamie @ Love Bakes Good Cakes says
Seriously, don't get me started on product size changes ...... I think what makes the maddest is that they do it so underhandedly as if we're too dumb to notice that we're getting less product for the same amount (or more) money! These brownies would help me forget for a little while about the fact that we are getting screwed! How could anyone resist an ooey gooey chocolaty marshmallow brownie? That's right ... I can't!
Kayla says
This looks delicious! It's just all gooey and ooey and I love it!
Karly says
Skipping lunch and maybe dinner for these! Thanks for linking up with What's Cookin' Wednesday!
Kimberly says
Wow! That looks incredible. I'm so impressed. Pinned and tweeted. We appreciate you stopping by to party with us. We hope to see you, Monday at 7 pm. Happy Sunday! Lou Lou Girls
jess says
OMG you just made me hungry! These look insanely amazing! I made s'mores cookies in a mini muffin pan like this..they were soo good..but adding brownies, YES PLEASE!
As for your rant, you are totally right. I never thought about how it would effect recipes from the past. More than likely they will end up making packages smaller again, so then it will really screw us up!
Thanks for linking up at Totally Terrific Tuesday! I pinned these to our group board and a few other places! Hope to see you tonight at 10pm eastern 🙂 Have a wonderful Monday!
Jess
LiveRandomlySimple
Christine says
Oh my gosh!! They look sooooo good!
Joanne T Ferguson says
This looks absolutely delicious Lisa! I don't know what planet I live on, but have never had a S'more anything to date!
Thanks for supporting the Say G'day Party and pinned all your submissions and look forward to seeing you next week!
Audrey says
I can't lay all the blame on corporate greed. When Michelle Obama got on her high horse over childhood obesity and consuming too much sugary products, it gave all the companies the go ahead that they seem to think they're saving our lives by charging us more for less. Hence the birth of extreme couponers. For those of us without the patience to clip coupons all day, we're stuck with recipe conversions.