Nutella Hot Chocolate Fudge Brownies

As I mentioned in my last post, finals are rushing up. You know what else is rushing up? MOVE-OUT DAY. Ugh. Have you ever tried packing all of your life up and moving into a tiny dorm room? It's pretty tough. You know what's even tougher? Packing all of your stuff back up so you can move OUT from the dorm room and back home. I feel as if I've somehow accumulated twice as much stuff as I originally brought, and I have no idea where it came from, AND I have to somehow bring all of it home in a single car trip. 

I've kind of started packing, and it's made me realize that a lot of the stuff I have in Santa Cruz is food. Or food related. I mean, I have cupcake pans and chocolate truffle molds here. And ingredients for baking. Since all of that is really bulky and would be difficult to take home (okay, taking 2 sticks of butter on an hour-long trip in a hot car just sounds stupid), I decided I should try to use up all my ingredients by baking a LOT of food for my friends at school to eat!

I had a nearly full jar of Nutella and a lot of hot chocolate mix, so I had a light-bulb moment and decided to make brownies! I was a little worried about the fact that I had no eggs, but the brownies turned out amazingly well! They are soft, incredibly fudgy, and the "edge-pieces" from the edge of the pan are very crunchy and chewy. (Side-note: I don't especially care for edge-piece brownies, but one of my best friends says they're the best part. I think he's insane, but it leaves more of the delicious gooey interior pieces for me.) I will definitely make these brownies again, and not just when I'm trying to use up my ingredients.

Nutella Hot Chocolate Fudge Brownies 

(makes 1 12x16 inch pan, or 2 9x13 inch pans)

1 C Butter
2/3 C vegetable oil
3 C sugar
3 C flour
2 tbsp baking soda
1 C cocoa powder
1 1/4 C dry hot chocolate mix (I used Nestle's rich milk chocolate)
1 C Nutella
3 tsp vanilla
1 1/4 C water
10 oz chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 Cups)

* May substitute water for 5 eggs - if doing so, reduce baking powder to 2 tsp.
* May substitute vegetable oil for an extra 1 C butter. You may also substitute butter for an extra 2/3 C vegetable oil.

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease or butter your sheet pan.
2. In a large bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, cocoa powder, and hot chocolate mix.
3. In a medium sized sauce pan over low heat, melt the butter completely. Add the sugar, and stir slowly to dissolve the sugar. Add oil, and continue stirring the mixture. Do not allow it to boil.
4. Add the sugar-butter-oil mixture to the large bowl, and mix until all the ingredients are combined.
5. Add Nutella and water to the mixture. Keep mixing (either with a whisk or a hand-mixer) until the batter reaches a smooth, thick consistency and all ingredients are completely combined.
6. Add in chocolate chips, and stir until evenly incorporated into the batter.
7. Pour the batter into the prepared pan(s), and spread it evenly. Batter should be quite thick.

8. Bake brownies for 30-35 minutes if in 9x13 inch pan, and for 40-45 minutes if in 12x16 inch pan.  The sides should be very set, while the center is moist. Test for "done-ness" with a toothpick or fork inserted into the center of pan; there should be moist crumbs clinging to the fork, but no batter.

I couldn't resist sneaking a bite out of the corner, straight from the oven!

9. Allow brownies to cool completely before cutting into pieces. You should get between 4 dozen and 6 dozen pieces, depending on how big you want your brownies to be.

Mmm, look at the gooey brownie. This was so simple to make, and can be easily halved as well if you don't want to make the ridiculous amount I did. Honestly, these brownies are disappearing super fast, so you probably won't have any issue with eating them all... though your tummy might not thank you haha. Seriously though, anyone who says, "Nothing tastes as good as skinny feels." has NEVER tasted my brownies. Try out this recipe next time you're in the mood for baking! :)