It has been five weeks and forty-eight hours since we dropped our younger daughter at college.  Am I marking time?  Yes, indeed because we have reached our first milestone, Family Weekend!!!  I have to say, we are pretty darn excited to get in the car to catch up with our girl, armed with a few forgotten items from her bedroom, a big batch of the Armenian Rice Pilaf she requested and some other homemade treats.  The only thing standing in our way is six hours of highway time.  Ugh.

I have to warn you.  If you are only a fan of the mostly healthy recipes I share on the blog then you might want to avert your eyes this week.  Or, if like me you have people in your life who love their sweets, or if you need a tailgate party, block party or team dinner dessert idea in the near future, then you may want to read on.  But beware…the recipe involves processed food (cue shocking music).

I first learned about this recipe from the blog, What’s Gaby Cooking.  Gaby knew about it from another blogger, The Londoner.  Gaby has come up with multiple variations on the original recipe and even includes a version using mostly scratch ingredients on her website.  But part of the fun of this recipe is that it is basically a dump and run kind of dish that you can put together pretty quickly.  Oh, and the name of the dish?  They are called Slutty, yes Slutty Brownies (more shocking music?).

I didn’t name them, but as I mentioned when I posted a recipe for Salted Chocolate Caramel Brownies (originally Knock You Naked Brownies), I like to keep my recipe titles clean for a bunch of reasons.  So, I am renaming this sexy dessert to Tailgate Brownies, my friend Timm’s suggestion.  I can see my daughter rolling her eyes now!  You can call them whatever your heart desires!  I like the word association between college and tailgate so I am sticking with it.

The first time I made these I brought them to a ladies night out.  While there was some interest, there wasn’t a lot of wow, although my book group loved them last night when I cut them into mini bites!

When I made them for my daughter and her friends however, it was all rainbows and unicorns! Jackpot!  I love when that happens.  Suddenly, there were quite a few “slutty” brownie sessions with my daughter’s friends gobbling them up in the high school cafeteria.  I would venture to say that you could serve these warm from the oven with some ice cream to almost anyone.

So, you probably know where this is going.  That car we’ll be in for over 6 hours one way this weekend? It’s going to have several batches of Tailgate Brownies in it to surprise my daughter and her new friends.  I can’t wait to see her and give her a great big mamma bear hug!!!

The recipe starts with a box or bag of cookie dough mix, a box of brownie mix and chocolate sandwich cookies.  You can do the organic, non-GMO route…

Or as comedienne Amy Schumer might say, you can get “real-real” and use these products below.  No judging here on The Kitchen Scout!

Start by lining a 9 inch pan with parchment so that it hangs over two edges.  Paper clips really help keep the paper in place.  I saw that idea online and the clips are oven safe…

Next, add in your chocolate sandwich cookies.  Here is where you can get creative if you want.  You could add in vanilla sandwich cookies, peanut butter sandwich cookies or even large peanut butter cups.  In a 9 inch pan, I was able to fit 18 sandwich cookies…

I made 3 batches so the pictures include ingredients purchased at Whole Foods and at my local supermarket…

Another opportunity to individualize your Tailgate Brownies arises from the spaces between the sandwich cookies.  As if there wasn’t already enough chocolate in there, you can add chocolate candies in your school colors.  Or peanut butter candies.  You get the idea…

And then on top of all of it, you pour your prepared brownie mix…

or…

Bake at 350 for anywhere from 30 to 45 minutes.  If you cook them only 30 minutes as The Londoner does, you will get a runny, oozey brownie that may fall apart but is perfect for serving in a dish with ice cream.  I bake mine for 45 minutes so that they are pretty much cooked through. After they are chilled, they are easy to cut into individual servings…

So, what do you think?  Will you give these Tailgate Brownies a go?  Will you call them Tailgate or Slutty Brownies?  Be honest now!  Please let me know what you think in the comments!  PS – Halloween is coming – don’t they make those sandwich cookies with orange filling this time of year?  Hmmm, another option!

Until next week…

One Year Ago:  A review of The Market Restaurant in Gloucester, Massachusetts