Mississippi Mud Brownies

Photo from Insanely Good
Recipes

Book club this week. We rotate everything — who hosts, who brings appetizers, who’s on dessert duty — and yes, we actually have a grid for it. The hostess handles the main meal and sides while the rest of us fill in the fun stuff. It’s organized chaos and honestly one of my favorite nights of the month.

This month it was my turn for dessert.

At our last gathering I joked that every single book club somehow ends with brownies showing up. Not that anyone is complaining — especially me. Brownies are undefeated. We also have a gluten-free queen in the group (shout out to Sherrie), so we’ve all become loyal fans of gluten-free brownie mix (my favorite is Ghiradellis). It’s ridiculously good, easy to make, and nobody would ever guess it’s gluten free.

But I decided if I was bringing brownies again, they needed a little personality. Theme brownies. Elevated brownies. Book-club-worthy brownies.

Enter: Mississippi Mud Brownies.

Now technically this recipe includes homemade brownies, but I skipped right past that part and grabbed my trusty GF boxed mix instead. No shame in that game. My mission was all about the toppings and the over-the-top chocolate situation happening on top.

In an attempt to clean out my pantry, I swapped regular marshmallows for freeze-dried mini marshmallows I already had on hand. Unfortunately…that experiment did not exactly succeed. They sort of melted into the brownies instead of staying soft and gooey. You could tell marshmallows existed at some point, but it definitely wasn’t that classic sticky marshmallow bite I was hoping for. Lesson learned: real marshmallows matter.

The frosting instructions also threw me for a loop. The recipe has you spread the frosting over the brownies immediately after they come out of the oven. At first I thought I had completely ruined them because the frosting melted everywhere. But once I cut into them, I realized that messy, drippy situation is kind of the point. The frosting runs down the sides and turns into this gloriously chaotic chocolate layer that honestly fits the “Mississippi Mud” name perfectly.

Messy? Yes. Rich? Extremely. Worth bringing to book club? Absolutely.

Mississippi Mud Brownies

Recipe from Insanely Good Recipes

Serves 16

For the Brownies:

1 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons oil

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

1 1/2 cups granulated sugar

1/2 cup brown sugar, packed

4 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 cups mini marshmallows

For the Optional Topping

1/4 cup unsalted butter

2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

2 tablespoons milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup mini marshmallows

Preheat the oven to 325°Fahrenheit. Grease a 9×13-inch baking pan and line it with parchment paper for easy removal.

Make the Brownies: In a microwave-safe bowl, combine the butter and 1 1/2 cups chocolate chips. Microwave in 30-second intervals, stirring well between each spin, until smooth.

In a separate large bowl, whisk the sugars with the eggs on medium speed until thick and pale, about 2-3 minutes.

Stir the vanilla and melted chocolate into the bowl, followed by the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Mix until about halfway combined, add the remaining chocolate chips and the marshmallows, and stir just until no streaks of flour are visible.

Pour the batter into the baking pan and spread it evenly. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until slightly puffed in the center with a crackly surface. A toothpick inserted into the center should come out with a few moist crumbs.

Make the Frosting: While the brownies bake, combine the butter, cocoa, and milk in a small saucepan over medium heat. Cook and stir until melted and smooth.

Remove the pot from the heat and mix in the powdered sugar, vanilla, and salt. Set aside.

When the brownies come out of the oven, immediately sprinkle with the remaining 1 cup of marshmallows. Then, drizzle the warm chocolate frosting over the top.

Cool completely in the pan before slicing and serving. For clean cuts, cover and refrigerate for 1-2 hours (after cooling to room temperature). Enjoy!