Tuesday, June 3, 2008

Mexican Chocolate Crunch Brownies!


Bakers everywhere have been singing the praises for these brownies for quite some time. I have been meaning to bake them for an equally long period of time. Recently, a friend asked if I could bring dessert to a lunch gathering, nearly as I was walking out the door. I quickly scoured my ridiculously messy pile of recipe printouts to think of an easy and quick treat I could whip up at the last minute. A finalist in the Pillsbury Bake Off, these Mexican Crunch Brownies utilize ingredients that most of us already have in the pantry. I stress most of us, as not many adults sans children have a box of Cinnamon Toast Crunch in their pantry. We on the other hand, are cereal freaks.Ok, on to the recipe. These delicious brownies start with a Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal layer topped with fudgy brownie batter, and finished with a sprinkling of cinnamon sugar. The cinnamon chocolate combination may seem a little odd at first, though it seems to compliment the chocolate and brings out a subtle sweetness. I guess it also helps that I love cinnamon in almost anything.

The recipe did come together quite quickly, though using a mini food processor to grind up nearly an entire box of cereal is no quick feat. According to Valerie, the recipe's author, ensuring the cereal is finely ground is quite important, so don't get lazy out there! Some other thoughts:
  • I also used cinnamon finishing sugar which I thought was quite pretty. If you don't have any, a combination of Turbinado sugar with cinnamon would be equally as nice.
  • Since there was already enough fudge chocolate goodness going around, I only sprinkled 1/3 cup (half the amount called for) on top of the brownies.
  • I try as much as possible to bake from scratch- who knows what they put in those boxed mixes! In the future, I may try combining the Cinnamon Toast Crunch base with a homemade brownie recipe I have.
  • Lastly, the recipe requests that you allow the brownies to cool for 2 hours(!) before slicing and eating. I'm not sure what your house is like, but waiting to dive in is nearly impossible as getting a man to go see the new Sex and the City. We did end up waiting and it was worth it. These brownies are even better the next day! Which means, yes I had one for breakfast :)
Click here for the recipe. Enjoy!

14 comments:

LizNoVeggieGirl said...

Cinnamon Toast Crunch?? In a brownie?? How fun!! Looks DELISH :0)

Aimee said...

Those sound yummy! I would have never thought to put Cinnamon Toast Crunch as a bottom layer for a brownie.

test it comm said...

Those brownies look really good! I never would have though to use Cinnamon Toast Crunch cereal.

Elle said...

I've never seen these before! My kids love cinnamon toast crunch cereal. I may have to snag a box so we can try these!

La Bella Cooks said...

I am with you on this, cinnamon is fantastic! How funny that cinnamon toast crunch is used. My kids have an endless supply on hand, it seems, which makes it even easier for me to try these out. I hope you don't mind if i snag the recipe.
Beautiful photo as well Sharon!

Anonymous said...

It's been ages since I've had that cereal but it reminds me of breakfasts growing up. It's the only sugary cereal my mom would buy for us. These sounds good!

grace said...

a two-hour cooling time? i laugh. that's absolutely ridiculous!
cinnamon and chocolate are one fabulous combination that i happen to love, but i'm tragically unfamiliar with this recipe. thanks for bringing it to my attention! :)

Sharon said...

veggiegirl, aimee & kevin - who would've thought, huh? It's quite tasty and makes sense once you think about it.

elle - I'm tempted to try other cereals now.

bridgett - hope it works out! Let me know if you make them!

marc - It's a good thing your mom restricted sugary cereals. It was free reign in our house! Amazingly, I never had cavities growing up.

grace - we somehow upped our typical wait time (10 seconds) to almost 2 hours...more like 1.5 to be honest!

Unknown said...

thanks so much for trying and reviewing my recipe, sharon! glad you liked them. I am a scratch baker myself but of course needed to use some convenience products to get my foot in the Bake-Off door. hope you others like them if you try them.

Emily said...

I'm a cereal freak, too!

I've heard about these, but haven't tried them yet. Soon...

Cakespy said...

Now those look simply delicious!! And cinnamon toast crunch makes everything better I think! :-)

Amanda, Mandy, Manda, Tomato said...

I have GOT to try these. There is ALWAYS Cinnamon Toast Crunch in our house.

Anonymous said...

They look so good :) What an amazing flavour combination, how fabulous.

Honeyed Hashette said...

YUM!
These look great!