Samoa-Inspired Crunchy Brownies

Ingredients

• cooking spray
• Base and Topping:
• 2 ½ cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• ¾ cup all-purpose flour
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• ½ teaspoon baking soda
• ¾ cup unsalted butter, melted
• 3 caramel and toasted coconut cookies (such as Girl Scout Samoas®)
• Brownie Layer:
• ½ cup unsalted butter
• 2 (4 ounce) bars high quality dark chocolate, chopped
• ¾ cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder

Step 1

Warm your oven to 350°F and greasing an 8x8-inch baking pan with cooking spray. In a large bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, and baking soda, then mix in the melted butter until everything is well coated. Take about a third of this oat mixture and stir in the chopped cookies—set this aside for the topping. Press the remaining oat mixture evenly into the bottom of your prepared pan.

Step 2

Pop the pan into the oven and bake just until the crust is set, about 10 minutes. Let it cool for a few minutes while you prepare the chocolate layer. In a small saucepan over low heat, melt the butter together with half of the dark chocolate, stirring until smooth. Take it off the heat and let it cool until it’s just lukewarm.

Step 3

Stir in the brown sugar and vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs one at a time until the mixture becomes glossy and smooth. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder, then gently fold this into the chocolate mixture. Stir in the remaining chocolate chunks.

Step 4

Spread this brownie batter over your baked oat crust, then sprinkle the reserved cookie-oat topping evenly on top. Bake again until the center is set and the topping turns golden brown, which should take about 25 to 28 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely before slicing so they hold together nicely.