Outrageous Oreo Brownies are from a scaled-down and fiddled-with recipe from Barefoot Contessa (Ina Garten), who based her recipe on one from The Soho Charcuterie. In this version, broken Oreo cookies stand in for the walnuts and instant espresso powder replaces the instant coffee crystals.
Outrageous Oreo Brownies Pros & Cons
They are outrageously good, but I have to admit I was kind of on the outs with the recipe for a while. As delicious as they are, Outrageous Oreo Brownies don't always hold up well at non-climate-controlled bake sales. They get a bit crumbly and soft and just don't look as nice as other brownies.
So I took a break from making these for a while and jumped from recipe to recipe making whatever sounded good at the time.
Things changed the other day. I stumbled upon this recipe again while updating Cookie Madness and made a batch for the family. Once again they exceeded expectations. They have an almost flaky texture. That is, they hold together and appear to be borderline cakey (kind of like Moosewood Brownies), but when you bite into them, they are almost truffle-like.
Ina Garten makes these in giant sheet pans, but I've always halved the recipe and used a 9x13 inch or 9x12 inch pan. I sometimes halve the recipe again (using half the ingredients listed below) and bake in an 8 inch pan.
As with all brownie recipes, it's important to get the baking time just right. I always stick an instant read thermometer in my brownies and if they register over 180, they're done.
Recipe
Outrageous Oreo Brownies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces unsalted butter 230 grams
- 8 ounces plus 4 ounces semisweet chocolate chips 12 oz total (336 grams)
- 3 ounces unsweetened chocolate 84 grams
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract 15 ml
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar 220 grams
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoon all-purpose flour 80 grams
- 1 ½ teaspoons baking powder 7 ml
- ½ teaspoon salt 2.ml
- 2 teaspoons instant espresso powder 10 ml
- 8 Oreo cookies broken up
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º F (180 C). Line a 13x9 inch metal pan with nonstick foil or parchment.
- Melt the butter, 8 ounces (1 ⅓ cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips and the unsweetened chocolate in a bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. You may also do this in the microwave.
- Stir (do not beat) eggs, vanilla, and sugar together in a large mixing bowl. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and let cool to room temperature.
- Stir the flour, baking powder, salt and espresso powder together in another bowl then add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Stir in the Oreos and remaining chocolate chips.
- Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 10 minutes more, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake!
- Let cool, then chill brownies. Lift from pan and cut into squares.
joan says
I made these yesterday with peanut butter oreos. I made 2/3 of Ina's original recipe and baked them in a 9x13 inch pan. I also threw in about a cup of those teeny tiny peanut butter cups that Trader Joe's sells. They were awesome! I bet they would be good with the mint oreos and some of the TJ's UFO mints, or chopped up Andes mints.
Anna says
Hi Shannon,
Did you notice that Oreo is now selling their own brand of Oreo brownies? I saw them in Walgreens the other day and it reminded me of this recipe. I agree with you in that they are really good cold. Thanks for the egg tip!
Shannon says
I've been wanting to try Ina Garten's recipe for a while now, and I finally tried this version of her recipe yesterday. These are absolutely the best brownies I've made so far! I've been eating them out of the fridge and they are great cold - fudgelike but not too fudgy - the perfect brownie. I used mini oreos in the batter because I didn't want to buy a whole big package of oreos (not that I didn't want to buy them, just that I didn't want to EAT them all), but next time I think I'll use regular oreos because I think they'd add more cream.
I halved the recipe and baked in an 8x8 pan. Since I was too lazy to mesure out the half egg, I just use one whole egg and one egg yolk and that worked out fine. I also used milk chocolate chips, which I think were a nice balance to the darker chocolate used in the brownie itself. Thanks so much for scaling down this recipe - I wouldn't have made them otherwise!
Jenn says
These are AMAZING. everyone i have made these for absolutely loves them
Louise says
History Lesson - I was just priming myself to make these brownies, and reading the comments caused a light bulb to go on in my brain. "Rosie's All-Butter Fresh Cream Sugar-Packed No-Holds Barred Baking Book", from 1991, actually makes Soho Globs referencing Soho Charcuterie as a popular nouvelle American restaurant in the 1980's in New York. But my recipe notes indicate these cookies are not as good as the Food Network's Extreme Brownie Cookies which they credit to River Run Cookbook, 2001. http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/extreme-brownie-cookies-recipe/index.html My head is full of all kinds of useless information. 😉
Therese B. says
This is a total random thought here....have you seen the Oreo playing tennis with Williams sisters yet? OMG...FUNNY STUFF!!!
I think oreos are one of the best inventions ever!!!
In fact I want to be buried with a package of them. Is that weird?
The City Sage says
Oh wow. Once again Oreos step in to make a good thing even better!
Ina has an awesome recipe for peanut butter frosting---you could totally send yourself into insulin shock by smearing some of that on top of these brownies. Heaven!
Sara says
Oh my gosh! I thought putting Oreos into cookies was a great idea...but now brownies! YUM. I can't wait to make these. 🙂
nickki says
They look so good! I really need to try these. Oreos in brownies sound like a winning combination to me!
Erin Mylroie says
I think I would love these with the mint oreos. Deelish! Your comment about foiling chip lovers with the unsweetened made me laugh. It wasn't too long ago that I tricked my Dad with a square of unsweetened. Oh, when will I ever grow up?
bakingblonde says
I have yet to make these, they will get made next month, I have to promise myself!!! Wow, those look good.
thrilled by the thought says
Oreos + Brownies. How can you go wrong?
Sara says
I think I'm the only person in the world who hasn't made Ina's brownies. For some reason, they never end up on top of my recipe pile. Stephanie - I made these butterscotch blondies the other day, you could totally add oreos: http://find.myrecipes.com/recipes/recipefinder.dyn?action=displayRecipe&recipe_id=1687712
I used whole eggs instead of egg beaters
runjess says
Truffle-like brownies? That sounds amazing.
Anna says
Stephanie, I just got rid of the stars.
Rina says
Anna,
Thank you for the scaled down version of these - I've been wanting to make them for some time but didn't want the full batch (because then I would proceed to eat them all in one sitting).
In other news, we just hosted our second cupcake meetup in SF, it was a lot of fun!
HoneyB says
Oh wow, brownies are the thing today! Look awesome!
Stephanie says
You have stars by the espresso powder -- but no footnote. Is there something you can add instead of the espresso? I'm wanting to make these for the lunchbox.
I also have a package of vanilla oreos from Trader Joes. Any blondie recipe that the vanilla oreos will work in?
Randi says
You're on a brownie kick eh?
Stephanie says
Combining the magic of brownies with the glory that is oreos? Mmmm, too good, too good.
clumbsycookie says
I made Contessa's Brownies once and they were delicious! It was one of the best brownies I had and next time I make them I'll add Oreos for sure!
Ps- We do have Maltesers here :)!
Lisa Ernst says
When I made Outrageous Brownies, people went crazy for them, and this looks like a really fun variation!
Katrina says
Get this, on your last post as you featured the 100% cacao chips, and you had the chips sitting on a recipe, I tried reading some of it to see what you were making with them and when I read the recipe saying "tap baking sheet on the counter...." I knew it was Barefoot Contessa's brownies. Cool! She is the only one I can think of seeing who does that.
I have not ever tried making her brownies, but have wanted to. Maybe I'll just try yours, I like that it's scaled down a bit from hers.
Love the Oreo addition! I bought a pk of Oreos a few weeks ago and they still sit unopened in the cupboard as I find just the right thing for them. May have to save a handful of them and give them a try in brownies or cookies!
VeggieGirl says
Scrumptious!
Heidi says
I was just reading up on this week's TWD recipe, and Dorie made the cookies at the Charcuterie, but it was really a grandchild from a Maida recipe called Mulattoes... I notice the Ina recipe says these were called Chocolate Globs, and the Dorie recipe were called Chocolate GOBS. heh.
Jennifer says
I'm so glad you posted this recipe. Joe at "Culinary in the Desert" makes a similar one and his takes a larger pan, maybe 15"x10" that I don't own, so I'm so happy that yours is for a 13x9 pan!