In a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, sugar and vanilla extract. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Set the wet ingredients aside.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder and salt. Gradually stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Stir in the chocolate chips.

Spread the brownie batter evenly into the greased baking pan and bake it in the preheated oven for 35 to 40 minutes or until a tester comes out clean. Remove dish from the oven and set it on a rack. Allow brownies to cool before cutting.

Recipe slightly adapted from allrecipes.com (Brooke’s Best Bombshell Brownies).

To make the strawberry guava filling, combine the thawed strawberries, guava jam, honey and cornstarch in a medium saucepan. Use an immersion blender to puree the filling.

Then cook the filling over low-medium heat, stirring occasionally, until it reaches a boil and has thickened slightly, about 15 minutes. Remove from the heat, and set aside to cool slightly. (You can also make the filling ahead of time and refrigerate overnight.)

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Using your hands or a pastry blender, mix in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs.

Stir in the oats and brown sugar (and shredded coconut, if using) until combined.

Transfer half of the dough into the greased baking pan, and use your hands to spread it evenly on the bottom of the pan.

Bake the crust at 350°F for 15 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven, and pour the strawberry-guava filling on top of the crust spreading it to cover the crust.

Spread the rest of the dough on top of the filling, using your hands to make sure the dough covers the filling.

Return to the oven and bake at 350°F for an additional 30-35 minutes, until the edges of the bars are golden brown and the center is set.

Cool completely before cutting into bars, and enjoy!

While the jam is cooling, prepare your crust. Melt the butter in a heavy-bottomed skillet over medium-high heat. Continue cooking, stirring frequently until the butter just begins to brown and a nutty aroma fills the air, about 5-6 minutes (be careful, the butter can go from brown to burnt in a matter of seconds). Remove the pan from the heat immediately and transfer to a bowl. Transfer the bowl to the freezer and freeze for about 30 minutes or until the butter has just begun to harden.

Whisk together the confectioners’ sugar and the flour in a large mixing bowl. Once butter is frozen, remove it from the freezer and cut into little cubes. Mix the butter into the flour mixture with clean hands. Crumble together and knead the dough until the crumbs come together to form a crumbly dough.

Now press the crust evenly into a 9×13-inch baking dish, making sure to cover the entire bottom. Press down and seal around the edges until the dough is tightly packed into the dish. Transfer the crust to the refrigerator to chill for 20 minutes.

Meanwhile, preheat your oven to 375 F and situate the oven rack to the middle. Once cool, bake the crust for about 20 minutes or until golden brown. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool.

While the crust is cooling, prepare your brown butter filling. In a large bowl, whisk together the orange zest, flour, eggs and sugar. In another heavy-bottomed skillet, combine the vanilla pulp and pod and the butter. You will again be browning butter. Melt the butter over medium-high heat and stir frequently until the butter begins to brown slightly and a nutty aroma fills the air. Remove from heat immediately. Remove the vanilla bean pod and very slowly begin to whisk the brown butter into the egg mixture until everything is smooth and incorporated.

Spread about half of the brown butter filling over top of the baked crust. Use a rubber spatula to cover the entire dish. Now, dollop the rhubarb filling on top of the brown butter filling, using about ¾ of the filling. Cover the rhubarb filling with the rest of the brown butter filling, and top it off with dollops of the rest of the rhubarb filling.

Bake for about 30-35 minutes or until the bars are a deep golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool completely before you cut into them. Store in an airtight container for about a week.

In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into muffin tins (1 tablespoon per cup) and bake for 30 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: A toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean.

When it’s done, remove to a rack to cool. Brownie bites should pop out of pans easily. Dust with powdered sugar.

In a small bowl, melt the butter in the microwave. Be careful to not let it boil, just melt it gently. Add the cocoa powder and sugar and stir well. Add the egg yolk and stir again. The batter might seem a little thick but keep going. Finally, stir in the vanilla, salt and flour. Scoop the batter into each muffin cup and use your finger to press it into a flat disk. Bake for 11 minutes. Do not overbake: at 11 minutes, they might look slightly underdone. Remove them from the oven at 11 minutes and allow them to cool completely in the pan.

Once the brownies are completely cool, let the ice cream soften slightly on the counter. Add a scoop of ice cream on top of each brownie. Use the back of a spoon dipped in hot water to press it flat. Place the pan in the freezer for 15 minutes.

Meanwhile, melt the chocolate and coconut oil. Have ready for dunking. Remove the brownie bites from the freezer and dunk each into the magic shell topping quickly. Serve immediately.

For the brownies:
In the bowl of a standing mixer with a whisk attachment, beat eggs on medium speed until fluffy and pale color. Add sugars and mix until combined. Add melted butter and vanilla extract, mix until combined.

In a medium sized bowl sift flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt. Fold the flour mixture in the batter with a spatula.

Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and smooth the top, pushing the batter into the corners of the pan.

Bake for 35 to 40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes up with some moist crumbs, but no wet batter. Remove the pan from the oven and set it on a rack. Let the brownie cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Then invert the brownie onto a greased rack. Let it cool completely before cutting it into 1-inch squares. You’ll get about 30 squares.

For the chocolate glaze:
Place the chocolate, butter and corn syrup in a medium heatproof bowl over a pot of simmering water. Stir the mixture using a wooden spoon until melted and smooth, about 5 minutes. Set aside.

To assemble, dip one end of a popsicle stick in the chocolate glaze and insert it into the brownie square through the centre, then place on a tray. Repeat for the remaining squares. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.

Prepare sprinkles in shallow bowls.

Remove brownies from freezer. Dip each brownie in the chocolate glaze and gently tap off excess. Roll brownie pop in sprinkles, and place onto a piece of wax paper to dry.

In a medium-sized bowl whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In a large saute pan, melt the butter over medium-low heat. You are going to brown your butter. Continue to swirl the butter with a wooden spoon until the butter begins to brown slightly and a nutty aroma fills the air. Immediately remove the pan from the heat at this point and transfer to a large bowl to cool.

Once cool, transfer the butter to the bowl of your stand mixer and add the dark brown sugar and sugar (a hand mixer can also be used). Cream the ingredients together until smooth. One at a time add the eggs and mix until each is incorporated. Next add the milk and the vanilla extract. Mix until completely smooth.

Now in ½ cup increments add the dry mixture to the wet, mixing completely after each installment has been added. If you find the mixture is too dry after you have mixed all of the flour mixture in, then add a tablespoon or two more of milk until you reach a more dough like consistency. If you find the mixture to be too wet, then add more flour, a tablespoon at a time.

Gently fold in the chocolate chips until mixed thoroughly and then transfer the cookie dough to your prepared dish. Press the dough down with your finger tips, pressing so that it reaches the edges and is a uniform height. Sprinkle the bars with coarse sea salt.

Bake at 325 F for 20-25 minutes or until the edges begin to brown slightly and the top is firm to the touch. Remove from the oven and let cool on a drying rack before serving.

In a large mixing bowl, add all of the crust ingredients. Use a mixer and mix on low speed until mixture is doughy. Press mixture firmly into the bottom of an un-greased 13×9 inch baking dish. Dough will be sticky, so a tip is to flour your hands/fingers before pressing crust into pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes or until a light golden brown. Remove crust from oven and allow it to slightly cool. Keep the oven on.

For the filling:
In a mixing bowl, mix eggs, sugar, flour, salt and baking powder until combined. Add margarita mix concentrate and lime zest and mix until combined.

Pour filling over the warm crust; place back in the oven. Bake at 350°F (175°C) for 18-22 minutes or until the top is golden brown and the filling is set.

Remove it from the oven and set the pan on a rack to cool. Allow the bars to completely cool. Before serving, sift powdered sugar over the top and cut into squares or bars.

Adapted from Food.com.

Place pitted dates in a bowl of warm water for a minute to soften them up.

Add unsweetened cocoa powder and walnuts to the food processor, blend until walnuts become fine crumbs, but do not over process or you will get some kind of chocolate walnut butter.

Drain dates and place them in the food processor with the cocoa walnut crumbs. Add vanilla. Process until mixture starts to combine. It may not fully combine until liquid is added. Add coconut milk or liquid sweetener (if desired) half a tablespoon at a time. I used coconut milk and thought they were just sweet enough, but if you like things on the sweeter side feel free to replace the coconut milk with honey, agave, or maple syrup. Pulse. You will know the consistency is right when the dough combines into a ball in the middle of the food processor.

If dough is too runny add a tablespoon or more of cocoa powder to bring it back to a dough like state.

Transfer dough to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours. Cold dough is much easier to work with. I left my dough in the fridge overnight. You could put it in the freezer if you need to speed the process up.

Once dough is cold, put the coconut crumbs from earlier into a shallow bowl. Scoop out heaping tablespoons of dough and roll them between your hands to form balls. Roll balls in coconut crumbs, pressing the crumbs gently into the ball. Set the balls on a tray. Continue until all of the dough is gone. You can moisten your hands with water if the dough begins to stick to your palms as you roll.

Keep these chilled, they taste best that way. Bites will keep in the fridge for quite some time, and freeze well also.

Recipe adapted from Averie Cooks. Recipe makes 12 – one inch balls.