Lazy Girl Holiday Brownies

Now that it’s the peak of the holiday season, do you find yourself getting so busy? You’re finishing your holiday shopping, preparing for parties, doing your eye make-up (what? it takes a while…), squeezing in your workouts, mailing out cards and presents, getting your beauty sleep, and baking baking baking that sometimes you want a short-cut for churning out (more) holiday goodies. If you can relate to that, but still can’t resist making something sweet and chocolaty for your friends, then read on for some Lazy Girl Holiday Brownies.

I love trying out new brownie recipes (one of my favorite is Ina Garten’s Outrageous Brownies) but when I’m crunched for time, or if I don’t have all the ingredients in my pantry, or when I’m simply just too lazy to measure out every thing, then I turn to the experts for some help. And by experts I mean Ghirardelli brownie mix.

I used the Double Chocolate brownie mix (with chocolate chips in the mix!) and some mix-ins:

you only need: 1 box brownie mix, 1 can pumpkin, 1 egg, 1/2 cup white chocolate chips, and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

Lazy Girl Holiday Brownies

The first thing you need to do is ignore the instructions in the brownie mix. Don’t use any oil, butter or water – the pumpkin puree replaces all of that (so technically, this is a healthy brownie…).

Preheat the oven to 325F. Dump all the ingredients in a big mixing bowl, stir well, pour in an 8×8 pan, and bake for around 45 minutes.

Let it cool, cut into squares, share, and enjoy the rest of your holiday festivities!

now you have your  Lazy Girl Holiday Brownies

To make this into a vegan recipe, just ditch the egg and white chocolate chips. But I like using eggs when baking, especially because the combination of pumpkin and egg makes these brownies incredibly moist and cake-like. It’s not too sweet, and you can of course use different mix-ins: you can add cranberries or dried cherries, use milk or dark chocolate chips, use pecans or macadamia nuts, or even swirl in peanut butter. The best thing about using a brownie mix is you have a good, pre-measured base which lets you customize your brownie easily.

best served warm, with a cold glass of milk

This post was inspired by the fabulous Melissa Nibbles. Melissa writes a lazy girl’s guide to health and fitness, and she is one of my very favorite bloggers because girlfriend keeps it real! She acknowledges that not everyone has the time and ability to do every single thing we want, but that doesn’t mean we have to stop trying. She is very funny and inspiring; check out her blog and you’ll see for yourself :)

I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season! Do you have a favorite lazy girl (or lazy boy) dessert recipe for the holidays?

   

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