Rocky Road Brownies

Brownie batter from scratch, marshmallows, Trader Joe's chocolate chips, and nuts - honestly, what could be better?  I came home today to find brownies and cupcakes scattered around the kitchen, compliments of my lovely roommate Jen.  Needless to say I did not get one bite of her tasty delights as she took them away shortly after my return.  Withdrawals setting in, I was craving some type of homemade treat so I searched the internet for something I could whip up with what was in the kitchen.  My first thought was "Trader Joe" chocolate chips, my sister introduced me to them on her last visit and I have forever fallen in love and deemed them my personal favorite chips to use.  That's when I came across 'Rocky Road Brownies,' on Hershey's website (ingredients below).  Rummaging through the kitchen I found everything I needed and got set to work.

• 1-1/4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 1 cup HERSHEY'S SPECIAL DARK Chocolate Chips or HERSHEY'S Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (Trader Joe's Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips in my version)
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/3 cup HERSHEY'S Cocoa
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt

This was not a very tricky recipe to make as I was finished preparing the batter in ohh about 5 minutes.  Due to the lack of baking pans in our kitchen (shocking I know), I had to improvise and use a bread pan for the brownies which tacks on at least an extra ten minutes to the already grueling 22 minutes the brownies have to be in the 350 degree oven.  I sit here in anticipation, waiting for the brownies to cook so I can drizzle the chocolate chips, marshmallows, and nuts on top and put them back in the oven to watch the marshmallows slowly warm and puff up.
Once the brownies were a little less jiggly, I pulled them out and covered them with the chocolate chip mix - 5 more minutes in the oven and then just the time it takes to semi-cool and I can feed my craving of sweets.  This blog may be trouble for me - I feel pressured to bake more in order to post more blogs... yikes, we're going to have to put a little restriction on our baking per week. 

The marshmallows seemed to take over the topping, but I don't mind one bit.  I must say between this recipe of brownies from scratch and one of our previous cupcake creations from scratch (post to come soon!), I am forever sold on baking from scratch and going to try extremely hard to not buy packages for baking. (Unless absolutely necessary for certain creations).  Below if a picture of a sliver of the brownies which turned out spectacular to me.  The rich moisture from the scratch brownie batter, melted chocolate chips, and slightly toasted marshmallow put together a tremendous combination of flavors and textures.  Can't wait to share them :)

Wish you were here Liv :)