Oreo Brownies

Between traveling for the holidays, my birthday, and New Year’s Eve, I wasn’t left with a lot of time to whip up something sweet for a NYE gathering at a friend’s house. All I had time for was jazzing up a boxed brownie mix. I should run out of time more often – this was really, really good! I layered whole Oreo cookies on top of half the brownie batter, and then covered it with more batter. Once baked, the Oreos lost their shape and melted into the brownies, creating a dark chocolate center. (Sorry guys, with all the NYE celebrating, I forgot to take pictures of the brownies once they were cut. Forgot…or had too many libations to remember how to use my camera…)

Ingredients:

Boxed brownie mix, family-sized (enough for a 13x9 even though we are using a 9x9 pan)
2 eggs
¾ cup water
¾ oil
1 package of Oreo cookies

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9 inch x 9 inch baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment, leaving some of the paper to hang over the edges. Set the pan aside.

Prepare the brownie batter according to the package instructions using the eggs, water and oil. Use the amounts of egg/water/oil as instructed on the package. The amounts above are what my package called for.

Once the batter is made, pour and spread half of it in the bottom of the pan. Place whole Oreo cookies side-by-side on the batter to create one layer of cookies. Pour and spread the remaining batter over the cookie layer. Crush up 7 Oreo cookies and sprinkle over the top of the brownies.

Place the pan in the oven and bake according to the package directions for a 9x9 pan. Mine took approximately 45 minutes. Insert a toothpick into the center of the brownies. If they are done, the pick will come out clean.

Remove the pan from the oven and allow it to cool. To remove the brownies effortlessly, pull up on the overhanging parchment paper. Cut and serve.