Gateway to Gastronomy: Slutty brownies

Like many secondary school students, I had to take option classes. At my junior high school, our only choices were Foods, Art, Leadership, Band, and Drama. To be very honest with you, I hated every option. I’m not outgoing, artistic, musical, or a leader. So, I chose Foods. 

I can tell you right now that Foods sucked. We only cooked a handful of times, and all our dishes were lackluster. Other schools made pasta from scratch; pies, cake, and other fancy foods. We made butter noodles. After constant complaining, our teacher let us pick our own recipes to try. Consequently, one of my classmates found a recipe for slutty brownies.

It’s been seven years, and I still make them. It’s a super easy recipe that consistently wows people with how intricate it looks. Perfect layers of chocolate chip cookie dough, Oreos, and brownie make this a great dessert for parties, potlucks, or just evenings by yourself. 

Ingredients 

Brownie layer 

• ½ cup + 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
• 1 ¼ cup white sugar 
• ¾ cup cocoa powder 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• ½ cup flour 

Oreo layer 

• One package of double-stuffed Oreos

Cookie layer 

• ½ cup softened, unsalted butter
• ¼ cup brown sugar
• ¾ cup white sugar 
• 1 egg
• 1 ¼ teaspoons vanilla extract 
• 1 ¼ cups flour 
• ½ teaspoon salt 
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon baking powder 
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips 

Instructions

1. Preheat your oven to 350^°F. 
2. Make your brownie batter by melting butter in a medium saucepan over medium high heat. 
3. Once the butter is melted, add the sugar and cocoa powder, whisking to combine. When mixed, remove the batter from heat. 
4. Whisking constantly, add the salt, eggs, and vanilla until fully combined. If you want to switch up the flavour of your brownies, replace the vanilla with any other extract. I like to use almond or raspberry!
5. Continue to mix and add the flour, then set aside.
6. Start on your cookie dough by creaming together the butter and both sugars. 
7. Add the eggs and vanilla extract. If you’re using a stand mixer, make sure you continuously scrape down the sides of your bowl. 
8. In a separate bowl, mix the flour, salt, baking soda, and baking powder. 
9. Once combined, add the dry ingredients into the batter, and mix until just combined. Make sure you don’t overmix, or your dough won’t bake properly. 
10.  Add the chocolate chips into the dough. Once mixed, set aside. 
11.  To assemble the brownies, grease a 9 x 9 pan with cooking spray or softened butter. 
12.  Press the cookie dough into the bottom of the pan. 
13.  In a single layer, place the Oreos on top of the cookie dough. 
14.  Pour the brownie batter onto the Oreos and cookie dough. Spread the batter out with a spatula to each corner of the pan.
15.  Bake your brownies for 30 – 40 minutes.
16.  To test for doneness, stick a knife into the centre of the brownies. If the knife comes out with some batter on it, but it isn’t overly damp, your brownies are done. It’s better for your brownies to be underdone when you take them out of the oven, because they will continue to cook in the hot pan.

As soon as your brownies are done, they’re ready to serve! To really put them over the edge, serve with some vanilla ice cream!