These brownies were completely ridiculous.

When I saw a picture of these brownies online, I couldn’t resist making them myself. I do have a penchant for Oreo-stuffed desserts, after all. And come on… THREE LAYERS, GUYS.

Originally called “slutty brownies” by the Pinterest crowd, I decided against this name since I’m not a super huge fan of throwing the term “slut” around. The “cookie jar” name was inspired by my favourite Dairy Queen blizzard, a customized everything-Hilary-loves ice cream treat with cookie dough chunks, crumbled Oreo cookies and added brownie bits. It’s a treat.

But back to the brownies.

Yesterday’s newsroom bake sale gave me the perfect opportunity to make them. I feel like bake sales beg for over-the-top, sensationalized desserts. The more absurd the better. The inter-office bake sale was just another means to raise money for our Christmas party, an event for which I’m not even sure if I’ll still be around to attend. A few of us submitted a list of items we wanted to make and then people snagged each set of baked items ahead of time. I made these brownies and…wait for it…bacon chocolate chip cookies, a combination that I’ve been wanting to try for more than a year. I’ll post about those early next week.

A word of caution: heavy pre-10 a.m. sugar intake + Friday = not a productive morning. Factor that in with the head cold I’m currently recovering from and you’ve got a sugar buzzed, slightly congested half Asian on your hands. Beware. Also: not to be consumed with a mint chocolate cupcake and three ginger cookies. Or with those garlic-heavy perogies that a morning show guest brought in to celebrate the start of your city’s garlic festival. Yikes.

PS: someone asked me on Instagram how I got the three layers to stick together. This was something that concerned me, too, but they actually baked together extremely well. I think the icing of the Oreos had some sort of binding power over the two outer layers. As for getting these out of the 9×13 pan – I ran out of parchment paper, so I buttered/floured the hell out of the pan. They popped right out!

Oh yes, and have sneaky photo shoots at your desk before delivering the goods. This is key.

Recipe: Three-layer cookie jar brownies
Adapted from Laura’s Sweet Spot
For the Cookie Base:
– 1 1/2 cups all purpose flour
– 1 tsp baking powder
– 1/2 tsp salt
– 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
– 12 tbsp (1 1/4 cups) unsalted butter, melted
– 2 large eggs
– 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extra
– 1 12 oz bag of semisweet chocolate chips
– 1 package (300 g) Oreo cookies (I used the 30% less fat ones…not that it makes a difference!)
For the brownie layer
– 1/3 cup cocoa powder
– 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp boiling water
– 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped
– 4 tbsp (half a stick) unsalted butter, melted
– 1/2 cup plus 2 tbsp vegetable oil
– 2 large eggs
– 2 large egg yolks
– 2 tsp vanilla extract
– 2 cups sugar
– 1 3/4 cups all purpose flour
– 3/4 tsp salt

For the Cookie Base: Preheat oven to 350°F. Butter and flour a 9 x 13 glass pan. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

In a large bowl, whisk brown sugar and melted butter together. Add eggs and vanilla and mix well. Using rubber spatula, fold dry ingredients into egg mixture until just combined. Do NOT overmix. Fold in chocolate chips. Pour into the prepared pan and smooth out the top.

Layer Oreo’s across cookie dough as tightly as possible. There will be a little bit of space in between the Oreos. This is okay.

For the Brownie Layer: Whisk cocoa and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter and oil. (Mixture may look curdled.) Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous. Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated. Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined.

Scrape batter over Oreo layer and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, about 60 minutes. Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1½ hours.

Cut the pieces out individually. If you buttered/floured the pan enough they should come out easily.

Makes 30 brownies, in the size pictured above.