Have you been enjoying picnics this summer? I know we have. My 3 year old is actually quite obsessed by “Pic-a-mics” as he says. I’m not quite sure why, because it’s not like he actually eats any of the food at them…I guess it must be the novelty of eating outside or something. Anyway, this has been our first summer back in Pennsylvania and close to family so we have been to more picnics this summer than previous years with various family events. Of course with most picnics everybody brings food, right? And it pretty much goes without saying that whenever I bring food I always bring dessert if given that option. Finger desserts like brownies work great for picnics because you can just grab them and eat, you don’t have to sit back down with spoon or fork in hand in order to eat them. For instance, if your 3 year old is super excited because he’s at a “pic-a-mic” and is running around pretending to be Spiderman swinging on his webs and you want to keep an eye on him and eat dessert at the same time, a brownie is just the thing. So my new favorite thing to bring to picnics is these Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Brownies that are in my Cookie Dough Lovers Cookbook. (Have I convinced you that you need this book yet?) I have made them 3 times already this summer. And they have disappeared all 3 times. My husband and I always make sure we grab one, because we know that there aren’t going to be any coming back home with us…
These things are really rich, fudgy, and chocolatey…it’s a fudgy brownie, topped with a layer of chocolate chip cookie dough, topped with a layer of dark chocolate glaze. I always cut them small (I get 20 bars out of an 8×8 pan) because they are pretty rich, and because in general there are usually a lot of good desserts to choose from at a picnic so you don’t want to fill up on just one, right? My only word of caution on this one is that if it is a really hot day beware, because they will get a bit gooey and melty on you, and you might later find some chocolate smeared on your baby if you happened to be holding her on your lap while you were eating them. They hold up better if they are chilled, so keep them in the fridge until you have to take them out, or at least in a cooler.
Wouldn’t you be happy to see a big plateful of these at the end of the dessert table at your next picnic? 🙂
Therapeutic Kitchen 