Chocolate Caramel Bacon Brownies

So our beach trips with my husband's friends are notorious for being on the pricey side.  Not because of travel costs or too many side trips taken, too many souvenirs bought or an expensive rental house.  Nope.  When it comes down to it, our trip cost is only inflated by one thing....food.

Overbuying tends to be a problem on the trip, although there is one person who takes overbuying to an entirely new level.

Four years ago, we sent him to the store to buy some frozen ravioli for dinner.  Four bags would have been sufficient...he came back with 8...or maybe it was more.  My mind has tried to block out the whole incident....we ate ravioli for way too many meals.

This year we were spared from ravioli....but not from the overbuying.  This year's product of choice: bacon.  An absurd amount of bacon.  I think in one trip alone, a minimum of 5 lbs of bacon was purchased.  Seriously?!

I mean, don't get me wrong...bacon is great, especially when it is baked to extra crispy so it melts in your mouth when you eat it.  But after eating bacon three mornings in a row and knowing there were still unopened packages of bacon in the refrigerator, well, I'm sure you get the picture.

While browsing around on Pinterest one evening, I happened to peruse my "Sweet Eats" board and there, in all it's glory, was my pin for Pecan, Bourbon and Bacon Brownies from Bluebonnets and Brownies.  YES!   A way to use up some of the vast amounts of bacon still left in the fridge while creating something chocolaty good.

I didn't make these exact brownies because I didn't have everything needed to make them.  (Although I WILL make these exact ones someday...I mean bourbon and pecans and brownies?!  What could be better than that?!)  But I figured I could come up with something similar using a simple box mix from the store and doctoring it up a bit.

Most people in the house were skeptical...I mean not many people think of throwing bacon in brownie mix.  But convince them I did, and 30 minutes later the most ooey, gooey, chocolaty brownies came out of the oven with just the tiniest hint of saltiness from the added bacon.  Not much else to say but yummo!

Total Dude Food

About a week ago, one of my friends on FB posted that she was going to be making brownies stuffed with Oreos.  Immediately my mouth started watering and I decided pretty much at that moment that I, too, would be making these yummy treats.  And then life got in the way, and days went by, and I never got around to making them...but that doesn't mean I didn't still think about them.  In fact, I was thinking about them so much that I was even trying to decide what other types of cookies I could try in the middle, and that's when it hit me....Nutter Butters.  I mean, what is better with chocolate than peanut butter?!  And that day I made sure to find a little time to hit the store for some brownie mix and Nutter Butters.  And then you know what happened...the stuff sat on the counter for several more days because I had no eggs and didn't have time to get out and get some.

Today, however, I promised myself that I would not go to bed until they were made.  Well, I just finished whipping up a batch and I must say, they are out-of-this-world fantastic!  They even passed the guy test...the group of geeks sitting around my kitchen table are finishing off the plate of them as I type this entry.  (Don't worry...I did save aside two for the kids...don't want to listen to their whining in the morning when they find none left.)

The recipe is super easy.  All you need is your favorite box of brownie mix (I used Ghirardelli dark chocolate brownie mix) and a package of Nutter Butters.  (If you're willing to eat generic, definitely check out Target...they have their own knock-off that are round so you wont' have to cut them in half to make them fit into the cupcake pan.)

Simply make up the brownie batter, following the directions on the box.  Dip each cookie into the batter and then place it into a heavily greased cupcake pan.  After each cookie has been dipped, cover the cookies with the remaining batter.  (Okay, I do need to say here that if you use the Ghirardelli mix I used, it was slightly difficult because the mix has these ginormous chocolate chips in the batter which made coating the cookies a little more difficult.  And if a chip got stuck to the bottom of the cookie, it wouldn't lay flat in the pan.  While it probably took a little extra time to dip the cookies, I think it was totally worth it because the chocolate chips made the brownies taste AH-MA-ZING!)

Anyway, I was able to make 18 brownies from the box of brownie mix.  Pop them in the oven and bake them at the temperature listed on the box of brownies (it will most likely be either 325 or 350) for about 15 minutes.  When done, remove them from the oven and immediately run a knife around the outside of each brownie to un-stick it from the side of the pan.  Allow to cool....if you can wait that long.  We couldn't. :)