Combine two holidays into one sweet festive treat with these Chocolate Stout Frosted Brownies with PEEPS. Use leftover St. Patrick’s Day stout to make fudgy chocolate brownies, frost them with a simple cream cheese frosting, and then sprinkle them with colored sugar and garnish with sugary Easter PEEPS Marshmallow Bunnies. A perfect spring dessert that is sure to put a smile on your face.
As a child, one of my favorite candies to find in my basket on Easter morning were PEEPS. There was something I just loved about those sugar-coated marshmallow treats. Of course, I would never eat them right away. Nope, that would be total PEEPS abuse. Those cute lil’ creatures needed to sit patiently for at least a few weeks exposed to air so that the marshmallow inside of them could become just a little bit chewy. As far as I’m concerned, that’s when PEEPS are at their absolute best. Nothing compares to a chewy bite out of one of their adorable lil’ ears, except perhaps a bite out of a rich fudgy chocolate stout egg-shaped brownie, topped with cream cheese frosting, sprinkled with colored sugar, and garnished with a PEEPS marshmallow bunny. Sadly, there’s just no way I could possibly hold off on eating one of these for weeks on end. Sorry lil’ bunnies, get ready to lose your ears.
Ingredients:
Brownies:
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1 (5.3 oz.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar, Finely Chopped
- 4 Large Eggs, Room Temperature
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1 Cup Stout
Frosting, Assembly, & Garnish:
- 1 (8-oz.) Package Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
- 2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
- Colored Sanding Sugar
- PEEPS Marshmallow Bunnies
Directions:
Brownies:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.
- Place the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl; mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Slowly mix in the butter and melted chocolate mixture on medium speed. Mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients; mix on low speed until just combined.
- Add the stout; mix on low speed until just combined.
- Pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined 9×13 cake pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely.
Frosting, Assembly, & Garnish:
- In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing on low speed until combined.
- After adding all of the powdered sugar to the bowl, add the vanilla, and then mix for 2 minutes.
- Remove the brownies from the baking pan by gently lifting up the edges of the parchment paper.
- Use an egg-shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many eggs as possible.
- Using a cake spreader or knife, frost each brownie egg with frosting, add a sprinkling of colored sanding sugar, and then garnish with a PEEPS Marshmallow Bunny.
Suggestions:
- Pour the stout into a measuring cup before you begin this recipe. You will need to wait for the foam to go down to ensure that you have exactly 1-cup of stout.
- If you can’t find a 5.3-oz. chocolate bar at your local market, do your best to get as close to that weight in chocolate as you can.
- Using room-temperature eggs in this recipe helps to ensure that they will not curdle when you add the hot melted butter and chocolate mixture to them.
- Baking time may vary depending on your oven. Keep a close eye on the brownies after 20 minutes to prevent over-baking.
- This recipe will yield 12 to 14 brownies, depending on the size of your egg-shaped cookie cutter.
- Make sure your egg-shaped brownies are big enough to put a PEEPS Marshmallow Bunny onto. If you can’t find an egg-shaped cookie cutter, gently bend a round metal one into an egg shape.
Improvements:
- Garnish with finely shaved chocolate instead of colored sanding sugar.
- Add 1/4 teaspoon of espresso powder to the brownie batter.
- Replace the semi-sweet chocolate in this recipe with milk chocolate or dark chocolate.
- Freeze the brownie scraps to use crumbled on top of ice cream or mix them with any leftover frosting to make cake balls.
Ingredients:
- 1 Cup All-Purpose Flour
- 3/4 Cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 Teaspoon Kosher Salt
- 6 Tablespoons Unsalted Butter
- 1 (5.3 oz.) Semi-Sweet Chocolate Bar, Finely Chopped
- 4 Large Eggs, Room Temperature
- 1 Cup Granulated Sugar
- 1 Tablespoon Vanilla
- 1 Cup Stout
- 1 (8-oz.) Package Cream Cheese, Room Temperature
- 2 1/2 Cups Powdered Sugar
- 1/2 Teaspoon Vanilla
- Colored Sanding Sugar
- PEEPS Marshmallow Bunnies
Directions:
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.
- In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly until melted. Remove from heat.
- Place the eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a large mixing bowl; mix on medium speed for 3 minutes.
- Slowly mix in the butter and melted chocolate mixture on medium speed. Mix until well combined.
- Add the dry ingredients; mix on low speed until just combined.
- Add the stout; mix on low speed until just combined.
- Pour the batter into a parchment paper-lined 9×13 cake pan.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean. Allow the brownies to cool completely.
- In a large bowl, mix the cream cheese on medium speed for 2 minutes.
- Add the powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, mixing on low speed until combined.
- After adding all of the powdered sugar to the bowl, add the vanilla, and then mix for 2 minutes.
- Remove the brownies from the baking pan by gently lifting up the edges of the parchment paper.
- Use an egg-shaped cookie cutter to cut out as many eggs as possible.
- Using a cake spreader or knife, frost each brownie egg with frosting, add a sprinkling of colored sanding sugar, and then garnish with a PEEPS Marshmallow Bunny.
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