Chocolate Overload Brownies Dessert Recipe {&Halloween Punch Idea!}

October is the perfect month for anyone with a sweet tooth- candy is everywhere. It’s highlighted on decorations, popping up in recipes, and of course, littering every single aisle of the grocery store. &I am loving it.

I recently discovered the Bright Ideas site featuring tons of delicious recipes that all include some of my favorite candies, like M&M’s &Twix. Inspired {and hungry}, I decided to come up with my own recipe. I hadn’t made brownies in quite some time & was definitely due for some so I decided to make some Chocolate Overload Brownies!

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Chocolate Overload Brownies

Ingredients:

– 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons) butter, melted, plus a little more for greasing the pan
-1 1/4 cups sugar*
-2 large eggs
-2 tablespoons water
-1/3 teaspoon vanilla extract
-1/2 teaspoon salt
-1/2 teaspoon baking powder
-3/4 cups unsweetened cocoa powder
-1/2 cup all-purpose flour
-1 1/2 cups chopped candy bars {I used Snickers & Milky Way}
Note: I used 1 cup of sugar & 1/4 cup of Splenda- I did this because I ran out of sugar, but it worked out really well & cut some sugar out so if you’re watching your sugar intake feel free to substitute as much or as little as you want with it.

Directions:

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
-Spray an 8×8 cake pan with nonstick spray.
-Combine the butter & sugar together until blended.
-Add eggs, water & vanilla, mix until blended.
-Add salt & baking powder, mix until blended.
-Add cocoa &mix- be careful as this powder can go everywhere when mixing.
-Add flour & 3/4 cup of candy bars, mix.
-Pour batter into pan & smooth evenly.
-Bake for 18 minutes, then remove pan from oven. Sprinkle remaining candy bar pieces over brownies & place back in oven.
-Bake until done {roughly 7 more minutes}- an inserted toothpick should come out clean.
{Recipe significantly adapted from this one.}

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To make these brownies, I purchased a giant {230 count} package of miniature candies &they were perfect for this! I barely used any of them though so I still have plenty left for trick-or-treating or other activities &recipes. It included Milky Way, 3 Musketeers, Snickers & Twix- you could actually use any combination of those for the brownies!

While I was shopping recently, I found a brain ice mold & just had to have it. I am not hosting a Halloween party this year, but I still thought this was the cutest thing {if brains can be cute…} &I knew Shane would love it so I picked it up anyway. I used Hawaiian Punch Fruit Juicy Red {&stuck in some sour gummy worms for extra “eew”} to fill the mold & then combined Hawaiian Punch with 7-Up to go around it. Since I used Hawaiian Punch for both, the colors did blend a bit, but Justin came up with the brilliant idea to just prop the brain up by putting a small bowl underneath it, upside-down. &It worked!

If you’re inspired to make these brownies {or just eat the candy from the bag- I won’t judge!} be sure to pick up the coupons available at coupons.com! &For more creative ideas, be sure to check out this Pinterest board:

What would you make with your favorite MARS candy?