This week, I wanted to make something related to Halloween. Last year, I saw brownies like this at a Halloween party and thought they were adorable, this Monday (October 26) was National Pumpkin Day, and I went to a pumpkin patch this week. All three of these things inspired me to make these pumpkin patch brownies! They are delicious, super chocolatey, and a great treat to take to a (safe and socially-distanced) Halloween party this year!

To start this fun dessert, you have to bake the brownies. If you are in a rush or don’t want to make your own brownies you can use a box mix, but like I’ve said before, I think homemade always tastes a little bit better. 😉

If you choose to make the brownies from scratch, you’ll want to start by melting together 2/3 cup of butter and 1 and 1/4 cups of chocolate chips. The easiest way to do this is on a low power setting in your microwave, making sure you’re stirring frequently and keeping an eye on the chocolate so that it doesn’t burn. Once the chocolate and butter are melted together, put the liquid into a mixing bowl, and add 1 and 1/2 cups of sugar, 1/4 cup of cocoa powder (I like Hershey’s the best), and 4 beaten eggs. Then, turn on your mixer and let all of these ingredients come together. In a separate bowl, combine 1 and 1/2 cups of flour, 1 teaspoon of baking powder, and a pinch of salt. When the wet mixture is all combined, you can add in the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt) and keep mixing until the dry ingredients are completely incorporated. Finally, add 1 cup of chocolate chips (or however many you like!) and mix until the chips are evenly dispersed.

Before putting your brownie mix into your pan (I use a 7inx11in stainless steel pan for this recipe), make sure to grease the bottom of the pan or have baking paper laid in the pan, otherwise, the brownies will be very hard to get out. When the batter is in the pan, you’ll want to bake the brownies at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 30-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted an inch away from the sides of the pan comes out (mostly) clean. I like my brownies a bit more gooey than well-done, so mine were only in for about 30 minutes this time. If you like yours more well-done, leave them in longer. 🙂

The brownies need to be completely cooled before you can put the festive toppings on, so while the brownies are cooling you have time to get the toppings ready! The first component of the topping is the “dirt” of the pumpkin patch. To make this, scrape the cream filling out of 15 Oreos, and crush the cookies up. Set the crumble aside, and then you can make your “vines.”

I used a simple buttercream frosting for this. To make buttercream frosting, beat 1/4 cup of softened butter until it’s smooth, then slowly add 1 cup of powdered sugar, mixing as you go. When all of the powdered sugar is incorporated with the butter, add 3/4 teaspoon of vanilla extract and 1 tablespoon of milk, then mix again. If the frosting seems a little too thick, add a bit more milk. If it’s too runny, add a bit more powdered sugar. Once it’s at the thickness level you want (thick enough to hold its shape when piped) add in several drops of green food coloring until you get the shade of green you want. Then you’ll want to put the frosting into a piping bag. If you have piping bags you can use those, but a Ziploc bag works just as well. When the frosting is all in the bag and the brownies have cooled, you are ready to assemble the pumpkin patch!

This is the fun part of the bake. To do the first layer, spread the crushed Oreos on top of your brownies. Then, cut the corner off your piping bag (make a small cut so the hole isn’t too big) and pipe vines onto your dirt layer. Have fun with this and make as many vines as you like! The final step to complete this dessert is to put the little pumpkin candies (I bought these at Pick ‘N Save) on the vines.

This recipe is a fun way to spice up basic brownies for Halloween. I hope I have inspired you to try these out for yourself, if not this Halloween, maybe next year! Thanks for reading!