Irish Rocky Road Brownies are exactly what you’re looking for when you want a fudgy chocolate fix.
If you’ve ever heard of the song ‘The Rocky Road to Dublin’ you’ll see what my inspiration was here. These are deeply rich brownies with a light Irish Cream flavour. The added rubbly texture of walnuts, chocolate chips and melted marshmallows on top complete these sweet treats.
If you’re looking for a cakey brownie, this is not the recipe for you. These brownies fall squarely and unapologetically into the gooey and fudgy camp.
The brownies get their chocolatey punch from using both cocoa powder and chocolate chips. To make them ‘Irish’, you’ll add some Bailey’s Irish Cream coffee creamer. You could, of course, swap out Irish Cream liqueur in place of the coffee cream for a more grown-up taste. The idea of the Irish Cream is to lightly flavour the brownie and not overpower the deep chocolate taste.
After the brownies have had time to bake in the oven, you’ll tumble over the walnuts and chocolate chips, (deepening the chocolate notes even further!), and then sprinkle over some mini marshmallows. To add to the Irish theme, I’ve added green coloured marshmallows, but this is more for aesthetic purposes than anything else. White or any other colour would work just as well here.
The brownies are finished off in the oven for a few minutes to melt the marshmallows.
Here’s what you’ll need to make these Irish Rocky Road Brownies:
8” x 8” square baking tin
Parchment paper to line the bottom and sides of the tin
All-purpose flour
Dutch-Processed Cocoa Powder – see the note about cocoa powder below
Salt
Baking Powder
Unsalted Butter – unsalted lets you control the salt in your bakes
Semi-sweet chocolate chips
Granulated Sugar
Bailey’s Irish Cream Coffee Creamer – You can find this in the dairy section of many grocery stores. You can also switch it for Bailey’s Irish Cream liqueur if you’re serving these to adults only.
Vanilla
Egg
Walnuts
Mini marshmallows – coloured or plain white
Julianne’s Notes
If making these brownies Irish is not your thing, feel free to leave the creamer out. Because the creamer is sweetened, you’ll want to add an additional ¼ cup of sugar to your brownie batter.
To make it simple, natural cocoa powder is more acidic than Dutch-processed, and it is usually lighter in colour than the natural variety. Typically, natural cocoa powder is paired with baking soda in recipes.
Dutch-processed cocoa powder has had its acids removed, so it is more neutral. The colour is usually darker than natural cocoa powder. You’ll want to pair Dutch-processed cocoa powder with baking powder to help your baked goods to rise.
You’ll see in this recipe; you’ll be using Dutch-processed cocoa powder and baking powder.
There might be times when you want to change it up by omitting the rocky road topping. You could leave the topping off entirely to enjoy the brownie all on its own. Sometimes simplicity is exactly what you’re looking for.
Another more decadent option could be to make a quick chocolate ganache. For this you’ll need: 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips and ¼ cup of whipping cream.
Heat the cream over low heat until just before it comes to boil. Make sure you keep an eye on it so it doesn’t boil. Remove the cream from the heat and pour it over the chocolate chips. The warm cream should melt the chocolate chips. Stir together until the chips are completely melted and the cream is incorporated. Let your chocolate ganache cool for 20 minutes or so and then pour it over the top of your brownies. The ganache will firm up a bit as it sits on the brownies.
Check out more recipes for easy squares and bars:
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If you’re in the mood for a fudgy chocolate treat, then these Irish Rocky Road Brownies are the way to go!
Irish Rocky Road Brownies
Equipment
- 8" square baking tin
- Parchment Paper
Ingredients
- ¾ cup all-purpose flour
- ⅔ cup Dutch-process cocoa powder
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- ¼ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup Bailey's Irish Cream Coffee Creamer
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 large egg
Rocky Road Topping
- ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
- ½ cup walnuts, chopped
- ½ cup mini marshmallows coloured or white
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F and spray your baking tin with cooking spray or grease with butter. Line an 8"×8" tin with parchment paper. Make sure there is an overhang of parchment on two sides of your tin to make removing the brownies easier.
- Combine the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside.
- Melt the butter and chocolate chips in a medium pan over low heat. Make sure you stir everything frequently until the butter and chocolate chips are melted.
- Off the heat, pour in the sugar, Irish cream coffee creamer, vanilla and the egg. Mix everything together with a wooden spoon until just combined.
- Pour the flour mixture into the pan and fold it into the wet ingredients using a wooden spoon. You’ll want to continue folding until there are no traces of flour left.
- Pour the batter into your prepared tin. The batter will be quite thick. Use an offset spatula or the back of a metal spoon to smooth the batter out in the tin.
- Bake for 20 minutes. If you insert a toothpick into brownies, it should come out with some moist crumbs on it. The brownies will continue to set in the pan once you bring them out of the oven.
- Sprinkle over the remaining chocolate chips, walnuts and marshmallows and pop the tin back into the oven for 5 minutes until the marshmallows are puffy.
- Remove from the oven and let the brownies cool. Once they have cooled in the tin for at least 30 minutes, remove them from the tin, using the paperr overhang, and cut into 16 squares.
- These brownies will keep at room temperature for 2 days. I wouldn’t suggest putting them in the fridge, as the marshmallows will become too hard.
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