Magic Brownies - Two ways

What did you think I meant? No not that! When I lived in the sorority house my sophomore year of college, our house mom made the most amazing brownies EVER! They were topped with coconut, chocolate chips, and butterscotch chips....sooooo good. I never got the recipe because I didn't really bake back then, but have since searched high and low for something similar. About the closest I could come was the recipes for Magic Cookie Bars - which are apparently pretty popular . . . popular enough that Eagle Brand even sells a boxed kit for them. Well, I decided to try making my own version of the brownies using the Magic Cookie Bar recipe as a template. I also found a recipe that called for a butter-brown sugar-coconut mixture, so I decided to try both and see which was closest to what I remember. When my mom and sister came to visit, I served both brownies and labeled them A and B, then we voted. Results below!

Magic Brownies - A

Ingredients:

1 package brownie mix (plus ingredients to make them)

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350F. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans or a 13x9 pan.

2. Prepare brownies according to package directions, and pour into 13x9 pan or evenly divided between the two 9-inch round pans.

3. In a large bowl, mix together the sweetened condensed milk, coconut, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips. Drop in spoonfuls onto the brownie mix and spread out as much as possible to cover brownie mix.

4. Bake 35-45 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.

Source: Inspired by Eagle's Magic Cookie Bar recipe

Magic Brownies - B

Ingredients:

1 package brownie mix (plus ingredients to make them)

1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed

1/2 cup butter, melted

1 cup shredded coconut

1 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Grease two 9-inch round cake pans or a 13x9 pan. Prepare brownie mix, and bake according to package directions.

2. Meanwhile, in a large bowl stir together the melted butter, brown sugar, coconut, butterscotch chips, and chocolate chips.

3. Remove brownies from oven when a toothpick comes out clean. Preheat broiler. Top brownies with spoonfuls of coconut mixture, spreading as evenly as possible to cover brownies.

4. Broil for 2-3 minutes or until top is crispy and melted.

Source: Adapted from Cooks.com

AND NOW FOR THE RESULTS YOU'VE ALL BEEN WAITING FOR:

My mom and I voted for Magic Brownies A, while Bob and my sister voted for Magic Brownies B. However, after taste testing more extensively, my sister changed her vote to A. Although Bob still maintains his vote for B, but has moved more to the middle. I'm convinced he voted for B because it's his first initial.

In my opinion, the topping of B is too sweet. The sweetness of A is perfect, and the brownies were more fudgey because everything cooks together. While too sweet, the topping of B was nice because it had a crispness from broiling. You really can't go wrong with either one, but I think I will stick to recipe A from now on.

If you'd like to have a bake off of your own, you can simply prepare 1 brownie mix and use half for A and half for B using 1 9-inch round pan for each, which is what I did for this contest. In that case, reduce the amount of 'topping' listed above by half for each recipe.