Extra-Slutty Brownies

It's about that time in my study abroad experience that I'm craving food from home. Good burgers, Chinese food, cookie dough, and Waffle House are basically all I'm thinking about between cities. Don't get me wrong--Europe has amazing food. I just had duck twice in one day and some chimney cakes from the Central European Easter markets. Italy is full of addicting pizza and pasta and gnocchi, too. I just want food from home, and baked goods are at the top of the list. This recipe combines basically everything I miss, so I'll be making a quadruple batch as soon as my plane lands in the US in a few weeks.

If you've never heard of slutty brownies, you're missing out. Slutty brownies are quick and easy, hence the name. They consist of a layer each of chocolate chip cookies, oreos, and brownies. To make true slutty brownies, you're supposed to use a tube or tub of cookie dough, real oreos, and a box of brownie mix. You can make them homemade, but that ruins the simplicity.

Since I use mostly storebought ingredients (*gasp* I know but it's delicious), there's not much for me to explain here. You take a bunch of cookie dough and press it into the bottom of a big glass pan. I use this as an opportunity to get my anger out and punch the dough and also eat approximately half of the dough raw. It may be worth investing in another tube or two of it.

Next come the oreos. You want to press these firmly into the dough so that they don't float up through the brownie batter but also not hard enough that they end up at the bottom of the cookie dough layer. It's really not that hard; just lay them on top of the cookie dough, give them a little push, and move on.

The brownie batter is last. This is probably the easiest component to make homemade. I have an easy and delicious recipe that I make pretty frequently, so the link is posted below. Any boxed mix will work, too.

I do make the effort to add one extra step, however, to make these "extra slutty." I whip up a chocolate ganache to drizzle on top since it only takes a few minutes and makes the brownies look a little classier. Perhaps I should name these classy slutty brownies instead, but that's a problem for another day. These brownies are so addictive that one of my clubs in high school had a bake sale that exclusively sold slutty brownies. Despite being forced to name them "promiscuous brownies" to avoid any pushback from the school administration, we made more money that day than probably the rest of the year combined. If you can bear to part with these, I promise they make wonderful gifts or bake sale money-makers. You may just want to rename them depending on the scenario.

1 Recipe Cookie Dough OR
1 Tube Cookie Dough
22 Oreos
1 Recipe Brownie Batter OR
1 Box Brownie Mix, Prepared But Not Baked
1/2 Cup Cream
2/3 Cup Chocolate Chips

Heat oven to 350F and grease a 7x11" baking dish.

Press the cookie dough into the prepared pan. Press on the oreos in a single layer, then pour the brownie batter on top. Bake for 30-35 minutes or until cooked through.

Meanwhile, bring the cream to a simmer in a small pot. Turn off the heat and add the chocolate chips. Whisk until smooth, then pour over the cooled and sliced brownies.

Makes 20