Get Creative with Brownies

By Clare Miers

Brownies are far more creative today, with endless possibilities for decoration and tasty flavors. From heart-shaped cutters to special sugar shakers and stencils, the traditional brownie is now a blank canvas for a work of art with the same classic, chocolate-fudge taste that no one can resist.

Brownies are typically fail-proof when you use nonstick, grid-like pans to make large batches with perfect shapes.

Sink your creative teeth into some decorations and toppings that will push your brownies over the top:

Brownie ideas

Make an already perfect dessert even sweeter:

• Dominoes anyone? Cut the brownies into domino-size bars, frost with dark chocolate frosting then use white chocolate chips to create domino dots.
• Transform brownies on a dime with homemade stencils made from card stock paper cutouts and simple confectioner’s sugar. Online blogs show this method of embellishment.
• Flavors of ice cream inspire delicious brownies. For a Rocky Road flavor, layer marshmallows over your brownies and melt in a warm oven for a few minutes. Add walnuts or pecans to the marshmallow layer. Drizzle with a little hot fudge for garnish.
• You can buy some terrific decorating kits that give you the frosting tips to make rosettes, flowers and stars. Bite-size molds make smaller, petite brownies that can be elaborately decorated with one squeeze of frosting.
• Cupcake stencils work nicely on regular sized square brownies and you can find just about any stencil for holiday themes online or in craft stores.
• Mix creamy peanut butter into vanilla frosting (equal parts) and then add confectioner’s sugar to sweeten it to taste. Spread this over your brownies and sprinkle some chopped up peanut butter cups to the top.

Brownie design pro

When selecting sugars and frostings for brownies, use light or very bright hues on traditional dark brownies. Remember, if you don’t do such a good job on one design, take one for the team and devour that brownie with a cold glass of milk. Then, try your hand again on the next one!