Growing up, one of my favorite activities was grocery shopping with my mom and choosing what my lunchbox dessert would be for the week (easily entertained kid). I was usually an Oatmeal Cream Pies or Swiss Cake Rolls kind of person, sometimes swapping out for the occasional Nutty Bar or Zebra Cake.

It's worth noting that this was before everyone started frowning upon pre-packaged, preservative-filled lunchbox treats. From what I can tell, kids these days have really stepped up their lunchbox game (e.g. elaborate bentos - ?!?). But for my 12-year-old self, organic was a completely foreign concept, and I enjoyed my Little Debbie's in judgment-free bliss.

The Little Debbie dessert that never made the lunchbox first-string was the Cosmic Brownie. I couldn't tell you why my chocoholic self never wanted those, but if those Cosmic Brownies taste anything like this copycat version I was wrong.

Forget cakey brownies. If that's what you're into this isn't the recipe for you. These are fudgy, rich and delicious. It's like brownies and fudge joined up for a fun party (obviously with lots of confetti m&ms) and realized they were meant to be together.  I would recommend adding the m&ms after cutting the brownies/ganache so that you can get really smooth lines. A trick for cutting into something like this is to run a knife under hot water for 5-10 second and dry it off before slicing into the dessert. Repeat the process between each long slice. The heat from the knife will help create the smooth line.

Enjoy!

Copycat Cosmic Brownies
Recipe from Averie Cooks

Ingredients:

For the Brownies
3/4 cup unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar, packed
2 tablespoons coffee or water (coffee leftover from the morning brew is fine)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened natural cocoa powder or dark cocoa powder
1 teaspoon instant espresso granules (make sure it's instant so it dissolves), optional but recommended
3/4 cup all-purpose flour

For the Ganache
1 1/2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup half-and-half or cream
1 cup M&M minis (you can either buy them in small tubes or check out your local grocery store for the larger bags. I like the little ones, but if you can't find them anywhere you can use regular size)

Directions:

1. For the Brownies - Preaheat oven to 350F. Line a 9-by-9-inch baking pan with aluminum foil, spray with cooking spray; set aside.
2. In a large, microwave safe bowl, melt the butter, about 90 seconds on high power.
3. Add the eggs, sugars, coffee, vanilla, and whisk to combine.
4. Add the cocoa powder, instant espresso, and whisk until incorporated, free from lumps, and smooth. It could take a few minutes if your cocoa powder is lumpy.
5. Add the flour and stir until it's just incorporated; don't overmix.
6. Turn batter out into prepared pan, smoothing the top lightly with a spatula. Bake for 25 to 29 minutes, or until top has just set, isn't jiggly in the center, and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean or with a few fudgy moist crumbs, but no batter. I baked mine for 26 minutes. Allow brownies to cool completely in pan. While brownies cool, make the ganache.
7. For the Ganache - Add chocolate chips to a medium, microwave-safe bowl and heat on high power for 1 minute to soften chips. They won't be melted, this is okay. Don't stir; set bowl aside.
8. Heat cream in a glass measuring cup or microwave-safe bowl until it begins to bubble and show signs of just beginning to boiling, about 1 minute on high power.
9. Pour cream over chocolate chips and let stand for 5 to 10 minutes.
10. With a whisk, beat mixture until silky, smooth, and combined. If your mixture isn't smoothing out, heat in 15-second bursts in the microwaves until it can be stirred smooth.
11. Pour ganache over mostly cooled brownies (after about 30 minutes is fine; they don't have to be completely cooled). Smooth ganache lightly with a spatula or offset knife.
12. Evenly sprinkle with M&Ms. Cover pan with a sheet of foil to prevent fridge smells, and place pan in refrigerator until ganache sets up before slicing and serving, at least 2 hours. Do not slice into them until the ganache has set; feel free to make these in advance and store them in the fridge; they get better with time. Brownies will keep airtight for 1 week at room temperature, for 2 weeks in the refrigerator, and for up to 6 months in the freezer. I highly recommend storing them in the refrigerator because having a slight chill to brownies this rich and fudgy is almost imperative.

Sometimes you need a little indulgence in the morning. I'm a breakfast person, so I always wake up and have breakfast followed by something sweet. I'm not talking about an entire piece of chocolate cake (though it's been done before), just a little something to round out the meal.

This cake handles my breakfast and sweet craving all at once. Basically it's the king of sweet breakfast cakes. Each slice has rolls of buttery biscuits filled with cinnamon sugar, marshmallow, chocolatey goodness. As if everything going on with the filling wasn't amazing enough, the marshmallow topping is out of this world, too.

It's one of those things you feel slightly guilty eating because it's almost too good. I have a habit of starting out by cutting myself a small piece of something, and the entire time I'm eating the small piece I just think about how I wish I cut a bigger piece. This almost always ends up with me going back for seconds. I wouldn't recommend eating it every morning unless you also want to invest in a new wardrobe for your expanding waist-line, but it's absolutely worth every single minute of cardio you'd need to do to burn it off. For those of you who aren't ready for this kind of sugar high at 9am, it's good any time of day.

Chelsea has step-by-step instructions on her blog if you want to check that out. The process is simple. Roll out the biscuit, dip it in butter, dip it in cinnamon sugar and add the filling. If you divide everything into little bowls beforehand and make it into an assembly line of sorts it will be a breeze.

I purchased two tubes of the Pillsbury Buttermilk Grands (8 biscuits in each), so I filled up my first pie dish with only 10 biscuits. The recipe calls for 15 because it doesn't use the oversized biscuits. Either will work. I had extra ingredients for the filling anyways, so I just made another little mini cake by using a regular cake pan and making a smaller circle of rolls in that. Since this circle was only about 6 inches across I used tin foil to second off a 6-inch circle within the 8-inch cake pan. It did the trick.

Enjoy!

30-Minute Cinnamon Roll S'mores Cake
Recipe from Chelsea's Messy Apron

Ingredients

• 15 buttermilk biscuits
• 1/4 cup butter, melted
• 3/4 cup white sugar
• 1 tsp. cinnamon
• 3 tablespoons miniature chocolate chips, separated
• 1/2 cup miniature marshmallows
• 1/3 cup graham cracker crumbs, separated
• Optional: 1 chocolate bar

Marshmallow Frosting

• 4 tablespoons butter, softened, not melted
• 1 and 3/4 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup marshmallow fluff
• 1-2 tablespoons heavy cream

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch cake pan with nonstick spray and set aside.
2. Remove the biscuits from the packages.
3. Using a rolling pin, roll each of the biscuits very flat and thin. Stir together the white sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
4. Dip each biscuit in the melted butter or brush melted butter over both sides. Shake off the excess and then dip the biscuit in the cinnamon sugar mixture making sure to cover both sides as well, again making sure to shake off the excess.
5. Slice the marshmallows in half.
6. Using the picture in Chelsea's post as a guide, place a small handful of graham cracker crumbs, miniature marshmallows, and miniature chocolate chips on one side of each biscuit.
7. Roll up each biscuit and place the rolled up biscuit on the outside of the cake pan in a circle fashion spiraling towards the inside of the pan.
8. Bake for 18-20 minutes, or until biscuits have slightly browned on the outside and insides are fully cooked.
9. Meanwhile, prepare the frosting by beating together the powdered sugar, butter, and vanilla extract. Beat in the marshmallow fluff.
10. Slowly add in the heavy cream until desired consistency is reached.
11. Remove the cake and let cool for about 5-7 minutes before frosting.
12. Pipe the marshmallow frosting over the cake and cut into slices to serve.
13. Top the cake with any leftover miniature marshmallows, miniature chocolate chips, and graham cracker crumbs that weren't used to fill up the biscuits.
14. If desired, unwrap a room temperature chocolate bar, and “peel” it from top to bottom directly over the cake.
15. Slice into large pieces and enjoy while warm!

I realize this looks like a pie plate of sausages, but trust me, it is much better than that.

I felt the need to overly zoom in so you could see what's going on here. SO MUCH GOODNESS IN ONE SLICE.