Easy Peppermint Brownies Recipe {with box mix} | The Food Cafe (2024)

FAQs

How do you doctor up boxed brownie mix? ›

Scope out your kitchen for add-ins.

Boxed brownies can be their own blank slate for just about any snacks, sweets, or baking scraps you've got in your pantry or fridge. Add a teaspoon of instant coffee or espresso powder. Throw in a handful of nuts—pecans, walnuts, macadamia, whatever you have on hand.

The first and easiest upgrade you can give to your boxed brownie mix is to add a tablespoon of instant coffee to the batter. Adding coffee to your brownies boosts their flavor because its bitter quality balances out sweetness, making it less overpowering. It allows that delicious chocolate flavor to really shine.

They give brownies a lighter, drier, and more cake-like texture. If you prefer this over the chewy variety, then go ahead and crack in that additional egg. On the other hand, too many eggs will yield brownies that are hard, heavy, and tough.

Brownie recipes traditionally call for water as it serves as a neutral liquid that hydrates the dry ingredients. However, using milk instead of water can impart a creamier texture and richer flavor to your brownies. The milk's fat content adds a smoothness that water cannot provide, resulting in a more indulgent treat.

Is it okay to make brownies without eggs? Without eggs, baked goods will become a little thinner and not rise as much in the oven. As long as you replace the moisture from the egg with milk, banana or applesauce, you can make brownies without eggs. And yes, this recipe makes thinner brownies than normal.

Cookbook author and food stylist Jerrelle Guy might have given away the secret: In an article for The Kitchn, Guy suggests the secret to a "glossy" and lifted brownie — like the ones you see in bakeries and restaurants — is to beat the eggs and the sugar together for 10 minutes before adding additional ingredients.

Peanut butter, marshmallow fluff, Nutella, caramel sauce, or white or dark chocolate fudge all make great additions when swirled into the batter. To swirl you'll make your brownies as usual then pour them into your baking dish then add dollops of the sauce you want to swirl in.

Betty Crocker™ Supreme original brownie mix, plus water, vegetable oil and egg called for on box. Stir-in options: Semisweet chocolate chips, white vanilla chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, toffee bits, chopped maraschino cherries, chopped cookies, chopped chocolate candy, chopped nuts and more.

Can I use butter instead of oil in brownie mix? ›

You can absolutely substitute butter for the vegetable oil. Use the same quantity specified in the directions (for example, if it calls for 1/3 cup of oil, use 5 1/3 tablespoons of butter). Melt it down, then let it cool a bit. You might not ever go back to oil!

While you can add a small amount of instant coffee or espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavor of your brownies, it should not be used as a direct replacement for cocoa powder. Coffee has a distinct flavor that can make your brownies taste bitter and less like traditional chocolate brownies.

Further, you can make those boxed brownies taste a little closer to the real thing with a couple of easy substitutions. Specifically, swap out oil and water for butter and coffee — the result will be a more robust, more flavorful batch of boxed brownies.

We already know that adding espresso and coffee flavor to chocolate desserts supercharges chocolate flavor, and the same principle applies here. Using coffee in your brownie mix will result in better, more chocolaty brownies.

In brownies, both butter and oil will offer a moist, tender texture, but only butter will give the dish the aeration needed for rising brownies well. If you use a cake brownie, butter is a better option because it helps rise the batter. For denser, fudge type brownies, oil is permissable.