Brownies & Bars Archives - Live Well Bake Often https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/category/brownies-bars/ Mon, 03 Jul 2023 21:50:19 +0000 en-US hourly 1 S’mores Bars https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/smores-bars/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/smores-bars/#comments Tue, 04 Jul 2023 10:00:00 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=49528 S’mores Bars

Homemade s'mores bars are made with layers of graham cracker cookie dough, marshmallow creme, and two types of chocolate. Skip the campfire and make these instead!

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Sopapilla Cheesecake https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/sopapilla-cheesecake/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/sopapilla-cheesecake/#comments Wed, 21 Jun 2023 10:00:00 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=49200 Sopapilla Cheesecake

Inspired by the popular fried pastry, this sopapilla cheesecake features layers of flaky crescent roll dough, creamy cheesecake filling, and a cinnamon sugar topping.

If you’re unfamiliar with sopapillas, it’s a type of pastry that’s popular in New Mexico as well as parts of Latin America and South America.

The New Mexican sopapilla is made by frying pastry dough in oil and can be served sweet or savory. When enjoyed as a dessert, a sopapilla is often topped with honey.

This sopapilla cheesecake recipe is inspired by the classic fried pastry, but uses some baking shortcuts to make the dessert quick and easy to prepare at a moment’s notice. The best part? You only need seven ingredients to make it!

Serve this sopapilla cheesecake at your next family gathering or potluck. I actually prefer to chill mine, so it’s perfect for making ahead of time too!

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The BEST Blondie Recipe https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/blondie-recipe/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/blondie-recipe/#comments Wed, 05 Oct 2022 13:50:00 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=19056 The BEST Blondie Recipe

This blondie recipe is chewy, rich, and studded with white chocolate chips! They have the same texture as brownies, but are flavored with vanilla rather than chocolate. This is an easy, one-bowl recipe that’s perfect for weeknight baking! 

*Post and pictures updated October 2022*

What Is a Blondie? 

If you’ve never tried blondie bars before, you’re in for a real treat! They’re essentially “blonde brownies,” aka brownies that are vanilla flavored rather than chocolatey. 

This blondie recipe delivers the same fudgy texture of classic brownies, just with a strong vanilla flavor. I even managed to recreate the same crackly top that brownies have! 

You can make this easy blondie recipe any time of year, for any occasion. The blondies can be customized with any mix-ins you’d like as well!

Ingredients for This Recipe

This truly is the best recipe for blondies, both because the flavor and texture is spot on, but also because the ingredients list is minimal and everything can be whisked together in one bowl!

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Pumpkin Bars https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/pumpkin-bars/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/pumpkin-bars/#comments Wed, 07 Sep 2022 10:00:49 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=25953 Pumpkin Bars

These soft pumpkin bars are well spiced and topped with a rich cream cheese frosting. Quick, easy, and perfect for fall!  

This post is sponsored by Danish Creamery. As always, all opinions are mine.

These pumpkin bars are just oozing with fall flavors. A generous amount of ground cinnamon and pumpkin pie spice flavor the bars, and light brown sugar adds both sweetness and a caramel undertone. 

Once topped with tangy cream cheese frosting and a sprinkle of cinnamon, these bars are impossible to resist!

I love how quick and easy they are to make — and that the recipe makes enough to feed a crowd. The hardest step in the recipe is letting the bars cool completely before frosting them. Otherwise, these pumpkin bars are a cinch to make!

Pumpkin Cake vs.

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Gooey Butter Cake https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/gooey-butter-cake/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/gooey-butter-cake/#comments Wed, 31 Aug 2022 10:00:27 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=26755 Gooey Butter Cake

The name says it all! Gooey butter cake is ooey, gooey, sugary perfection. It’s incredibly rich and delicious!

Gooey butter cake has perhaps the best name of any dessert I’ve ever made. The filling is ultra gooey and rich, with a strong vanilla flavor. 

This unique dessert originated in St. Louis in the 1930s. It’s said that a baker measured the ingredients for a cake incorrectly and wound up with a pan of ooey gooey bars instead — which he still sold, and the rest is history! 

While this recipe for gooey butter cake isn’t the exact same as the St. Louis classic, it’s similar to the version made popular by Paula Deen.

Many recipes online use boxed cake mix as a shortcut, but this recipe is totally from scratch. A layer of thick, buttery vanilla cake is topped with a sweet cream cheese mixture and then baked until gooey! 

Ingredients for This Recipe 

There are two parts to this recipe: the base cake layer and the cream cheese top layer.

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Millionaire Shortbread https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/millionaire-shortbread/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/millionaire-shortbread/#comments Wed, 23 Mar 2022 10:00:23 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=25726 Millionaire Shortbread

Millionaire shortbread features a buttery shortbread crust, a gooey caramel filling, and a rich chocolate ganache topping. These bars are incredibly rich, hence the name! 

The combination of textures and flavors in these millionaire shortbread bars makes eating just one slice impossible.

To make the bars, a buttery shortbread crust is topped with a soft caramel filling before a layer of homemade chocolate ganache is added. And because I can’t resist salty-sweet treats, I sprinkled flaky sea salt over the chocolate ganache.  

One bite of this incredibly rich dessert will show you why they’re called “millionaire” bars! 

Although this is a layered dessert, each component is easy to make and the bars can be prepped days before you plan on serving them. A 9×13-inch pan of bars stretches to make 24 servings easily, making this a great party dessert that’s not your standard brownies or bars!

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Homemade Cosmic Brownies https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/homemade-cosmic-brownies/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/homemade-cosmic-brownies/#comments Wed, 09 Mar 2022 10:00:40 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=25185 Homemade Cosmic Brownies

These homemade Cosmic Brownies feature ultra fudgy brownies topped with a simple chocolate ganache frosting and candy-coated chocolate chips. Just like your favorite store-bought brownies, but better!

As a kid, there was no better feeling than opening up your lunchbox to discover that Mom had snuck a Cosmic Brownie in as a treat. The dense, fudgy brownie topped with chocolate frosting and rainbow chocolate chips hit the spot every time! 

Although I have fond memories of digging into those store-bought brownies, I’d much rather enjoy homemade sweet treats these days.

Enter: these homemade Cosmic Brownies. They’re even richer and fudgier than my classic brownies, and they’re topped with an easy three-ingredient chocolate ganache frosting. 

Although this Cosmic Brownie recipe has a few extra steps to it, the process is as straightforward as making regular brownies. You will have to be patient though, as the frosting needs to chill in the fridge for an hour or two to set up!

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Small Batch Brownies https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/small-batch-brownies/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/small-batch-brownies/#comments Mon, 03 Jan 2022 10:00:53 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=25393 Small Batch Brownies

Craving brownies but don’t need an entire baking pan’s worth sitting in your kitchen? Make this recipe for small batch brownies instead! The brownies are baked in a loaf pan and are the perfect size for mid-week snacking or smaller gatherings. 

Small batch desserts are my favorite mid-week indulgence. From chocolate chip cookies to mug cakes, I love having small batch recipes on hand to make whenever a dessert craving hits but I want just a couple servings of something sweet. 

These small batch brownies are my latest creation, and I’m in love. I have a mug brownie recipe that takes under 5 minutes to prepare, but nothing beats a classic fudgy brownie that’s been baked in the oven! 

I made these brownies with cocoa powder rather than melted chocolate to minimize prep work. They’re incredibly easy to make and stay super fudgy for days!

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Nutella Brownies https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/nutella-brownies/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/nutella-brownies/#comments Tue, 11 May 2021 10:00:51 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=24119 Nutella Brownies

Chewy around the edges and fudgy in the center, these Nutella brownies are my new favorite! Even better, they’re made with just eight simple ingredients.

These are everything I look for in brownies — chewy around the edges, fudgy in the center, and not even remotely cakey in texture. 

Oh, and did I mention there’s Nutella mixed into the batter and swirled on top of the brownies just before they go into the oven? I used three-fourths cup of Nutella in this recipe to drive that delectable chocolate-hazelnut flavor home. 

This Nutella brownie recipe fills an 8-inch pan, because that’s all I trust myself to have lying around the house. These brownies are incredibly rich and can be whisked together at a moment’s notice since they’re made with just eight ingredients!

Ingredients in This Recipe

The ingredients list for these easy Nutella brownies is short and simple.

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No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/no-bake-chocolate-peanut-butter-bars/ https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/no-bake-chocolate-peanut-butter-bars/#comments Wed, 24 Mar 2021 20:13:48 +0000 https://www.livewellbakeoften.com/?p=17259 No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars

These No-Bake Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars only require 5 simple ingredients and can be prepared in about 10 minutes. The perfect easy dessert for chocolate and peanut butter lovers!

Calling all peanut butter lovers! These bars are one of the easiest, most delicious no-bake desserts ever. They kind of remind me of a Reese’s peanut butter cup, but with a lot more texture and a much richer flavor.

Not convinced you need to make these yet? What if I told you these bars are also incredibly simple to throw together?

That’s right, you only need five ingredients to make these bars! Even better, they only take about 10 minutes to prep and you don’t have to turn on your oven to make them.

These no-bake chocolate peanut butter bars are always a hit at parties and potlucks, and I never go home with leftovers!

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