Chocolate Dessert Recipes: How to Repurpose Stale Brownies like a Pro

Did the wafting smell of brownies get you again? Perhaps you went grocery shopping on an empty stomach, and now you have a pack of brownies, that’s more than you can eat in a sitting. When there is a lucrative offer in the bakery store or aisle, who can resist? Then the regret hits you when you’re home, and refrigerated brownies taste terrible. So what do you do with the extras? We’ve got some suggestions for stale brownies that just don’t taste the same as the hot-off-the-oven ones. If the serving size feels humongous, take a look at your brownie stash and scale down the number of ingredients; typical recipes call for a pan of 16 brownies.

1. Trifle

Ingredients

Stale brownies (16 squares)

Chocolate Pudding

• 120 gm pack instant chocolate pudding mix
• 1 litre cold milk

Whipped Cream

• 1 litre heavy cream (chilled)
• 75 gm sugar
• 15 ml vanilla extract
• Chocolate shavings to garnish

Instructions

1. Keep your pre-cooked brownies aside. Get to fixing the other two dessert layers.
2. For the chocolate pudding: Pour the cold milk into a big bowl, add the pudding mix into it and beat with an electric mixer for 2-5 minutes—until completely homogeneous. Refrigerate for the pudding to set into its thick form.
3. For the whipped cream: Take a bowl. To it add the sugar, heavy cream and vanilla essence. Whisk these ingredients until stiff peaks form. Reserve till assembly.
4. Assembling the trifle: Cut brownies into small squares. Take a large trifle dish and start layering. Put the brownies at the bottom then put whipped cream, then the chocolate pudding. Repeat the layers ending with whipped cream. Top with chocolate shavings.
5. Serve immediately or refrigerate until ready to serve.
   
   

2. Brownie Pudding

(Serves 8)

Ingredients

Leftover brownies (16 squares)

For the Custard

• 6 eggs (room temperature)
• 300 ml whole milk
• 145 ml cream
• 45 gm brown sugar
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp almond extract, optional
• 115 gm Cadbury Dairy Milk chocolate (chopped)

Instructions

1. Take a heat-proof oven dish, 8x8 inches, and grease with butter. Set aside for later.
2. Take all your leftover brownies and reduce them to one-inch squares. Grab any bowl and mix milk, cream, eggs, vanilla and almond extract, plus the salt and sugar. Whisk to combine everything.
3. Once the custard forms, add the brownies to it. Also, add the chocolate and coat both with the custard. Let it rest for 30 minutes, at room temperature, for the brownies to soak up custard.
4. Once the brownie has soaked the custard, pour it into the pre-greased ovenproof dish.
5. Set the oven temperature to 180°C, baking the brownie-custard mix for 35-40 minutes. You will know it's done, when the top is firm the centre is somewhat still jiggly (important).
6. Serve with ice cream or have it as is.
   
   

3. Brownie pops

(Makes 16 pops)

Ingredients

• 16 leftover brownies
• 250 gm Cadbury Bournville Dark Chocolate
• 10 ml vegetable oil
• 16 lollipop sticks or wooden sticks

Instructions

1. Crush all of the stale brownies. Then use a lollipop-sized cookie scoop, and transform the brownie crumbs into balls. Use your hands to smooth out the balls. Then place these on a baking sheet lined with waxed paper. Insert a lollipop stick into each brownie ball. Freeze for at least 2 hours. This helps for the shapes to be set.
2. Find your microwave-safe dish. Put the Cadbury Bournville dark chocolate and vegetable oil in it. Crank up the heat to high. Heat for 1 minute. Then use a spatula to stir. Continue microwaving, another two rounds. The next two rounds at 30-second intervals, each, stirring at intervals.
3. Take a brownie pop. Then dip it into the melted chocolate. Place the coated pop on the lined baking tray. While the chocolate is still wet, scatter your choice of sprinkles on top of the pop. Repeat with the remaining pops.
4. Keep the pops in the refrigerator until ready to serve.
   
   

4. Brownie Cookies

Ingredients

• 375 gm all-purpose flour
• 7.5 ml baking powder
• 5 ml baking soda
• 5 ml sea salt
• 225 gm unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 100 gm granulated sugar
• 330 gm light brown sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 10 ml vanilla extract
• 330 gm small brownie chunks
• 330 gm chocolate chips
• Extra sea salt for sprinkling on cookies (optional)

Instructions

1. Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Then preheat the oven to 180°C.
2. Grab a bowl for the dry ingredients. Add flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, and mix. Set aside.
3. Using an electric hand mixer next. Cream the butter and sugar. This takes about 3 minutes. Add the eggs and vanilla, and mix. Keep the hand mixer on low. Add the dry to the wet ingredients, in batches. Drop in the brownie chunks and chocolate chips.
4. Form the cookie dough into balls. Use an approx of 30 gm of dough per cookie. Place them on the prepared baking sheet. Space them about 5 cm apart.
5. Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes. The edges will turn slightly golden brown. Remove from the oven. Then let the cookies cool on the baking sheet for 2-3 minutes. Transfer to a clean surface for them to cool completely. Then put them in an airtight container.