Brownies...in the Crockpot!

I have a gigantic folder of recipe bookmarks in Mozilla, and they're all broken out into various categories.  One of those categories is desserts in the crockpot, because if you didn't know this already, you can totally bake in your crockpot.  A recipe I've had saved for a while is from Stephanie's blog "A Year of Slow Cooking", and she made brownies using mugs placed in her crockpot.  Now, it takes about 2 hours and there's really nothing different about how they come out, so I have no problem admitting that there's not a huge reason for doing it this way other than it's something different to try.

I used a 10-ounce bag of Betty Crocker mix, so I was able to split the batter between two coffee mugs.  Definitely use the mugs that don't have any sentimental value, just in case something breaks.  I only had one in my cabinet so I had to go searching in our boxes of dishes in the basement.  This really was easy to do, and I think I would do this again if only because you can throw them in the crockpot before dinner instead of trying to schedule them into your cooking.  It's really difficult for them to burn too.  I think I looked at them twice in the first 45 minutes, and then I got distracted and didn't look again until I saw the clock said they had been in there for 2 hours.  Nothing was burning though, so I was confident they came out well (and they did!).

Grocery shopping has been an unfamiliar activity the past few weeks, so we didn't have any vanilla ice cream or whipped cream to serve with it.  I poured some cold milk into my brownie mug and Hubby added some low-fat Strawberry Cheesecake ice cream -- both were fantastic!  We ate ours as dessert while we watched the second disc of "Weeds" season 6.  It was pure bliss.


Brownie in a Mug Crockpot Recipe
originally from A Year of Slow Cooking
makes 2-4 brownie mugs

2 - 4 coffee mugs
Your preferred brownie mix and any associated ingredients
Cooking spray

Prepare the brownie mix according to the package directions.  Coat each much with non-stick spray and split the batter between the mugs.  Since we used a small pouch of mix and two mugs, each one was a little more than half full.

Put the mugs in the crockpot.  Cover and cook on High for 1.5 - 3 hours.

Our brownies were done at the 2-hour mark.  They were probably done a little sooner than that but I had forgotten to check them.  You'll know they're done when they've risen, the edges pull from the sides, and a knife comes out clean.

This next part is super important because it will go against your instincts -- DO NOT TOUCH THE MUGS.  They are going to be extremely hot.  Turn the crockpot off and leave them sit for a while with the lid off until they're cool to the touch.  I used a pot holder to take each of our mugs out and sit them on the wire cookie rack to cool off.

When all mugs are cool enough to be handled, top with your desired extras and dig in.