I have a confession, I love coming up with fun supper ideas, but desserts are my passion. A guilty pleasure if you will.

I think my passion stems from growing up watching my mom and my grandmother bake confectionary goodies for every occasion. Birthdays, Christmas, Easter, 4th of July, the weekend, a visit to the grandparents. I loved helping out in the kitchen (when desserts were involved). To me desserts allowed you to get creative and express yourself. Plus, licking the bowl was a tasty reward.

One of the household favorite desserts growing up was Tiramisu. Though, admittedly we never had Tiramisu as often as we would have liked. To this day, it’s still one of my guilty pleasures, which leads me to today’s post: Tiramisu Brown Butter Brownies (I’m a sucker for alliteration).

In comparison to my first post, these are a little more of a labor of love. BUT WORTH IT. I wish there was a magical way to make brownies under 30 minutes. I mean there is, but it usually involves a mug, a microwave, and sometimes a minor brownie explosion in said microwave. It may have happened to me once or twice in college.

While these may take more time, they are by no means overly complicated. First things first, preheat the oven to 350º. Next over medium-low heat melt the butter, stirring constantly. Once the butter is melted continue to let the butter simmer. Keep stirring! You want to slowly brown your butter, but don’t burn it. Brown butter is done when it turns a caramel brown and gives off a sweet nutty aroma. I like to use my cast iron skillet for several reasons. One, it’s well seasoned from years of use and adds to the flavor of the butter, in my opinion. Two, it adds MORE seasoning for the next time I use it. If you don’t have a cast iron skillet that perfectly fine! Brown butter is always tasty. If you’ve never made brown butter I recommend using a lighter skillet to you can see when the butter has browned. To strain or not to strain your brown butter? This my friends I leave to you. Some people don’t enjoy the solidified milk in their butter, some believe it adds to the flavor. I’m in the former camp, plus I think it adds a little texture. But to each their own. Let your butter cool slightly before going on to the next step.

In a medium bowl combine the sugars and the brown butter. Add the vanilla and the eggs one at a time. Mix well.

In a separate bowl combine the rest of the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, and salt). Slowly incorporate the dry mixture into the wet mixture.

I did mention that these brownies were a labor of love, right? It’s worth it! I promise! For the filling, combine the room-temp mascarpone, eggs yolks, and sugar. Mix until just combined. If you over mix, the mascarpone becomes watery.

Next you’ll need to make the espresso and amaretto drizzle. You can use espresso or make espresso with instant espresso. Set aside.

Now for the fun part! Make sure you butter you 9×13 baking dish or else the brownies will stick to the pan. If the brownies stick to the pan, they don’t come out clean, if they don’t come out clean you leave part of the brownie behind which is a TRAVESTY. No, I’m not being dramatic. I just really love brownies, darn it. Add half of the brownie batter to the baking dish and smooth out. Next spoon on the the tiramisu filling. Smooth out, but don’t worry about creating a nice smooth layer. If you do try to smooth it out too much you run the risk of incorporating the filling into the brownie batter. Which isn’t necessarily the worst thing to happen. Drizzle on about a quarter of the espresso-amaretto mixture. Top of with the rest of the brownie batter. Once again, smooth gently, but don’t worry about creating a perfectly flat layer. Once the mixture heats up it will naturally start to expand and level out.

Stick the the baking dish in the center of the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes. DO NOT OVER BAKE. If you do, you run the potential of drying out the brownies. Set aside brownies and allow to cool completely.

Once the brownies are cooled, move on to the frosting. Beat the butter in a standing mixer, until softened. Slowly incorporate the powdered sugar, then the espresso. Leave the mascarpone cheese for last. You want to make sure the mascarpone is fully incorporated, but don’t over mix. Over mixed mascarpone breaks down and will water down your icing.

Before you pipe on the frosting, drizzle the rest of the espresso-amaretto mixture on to the brownies. I did individual piping “drops” (is that a good word for this technique? I don’t know, but I’m running with it), but you can smooth the icing on or pipe it on however you feel works or looks best. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what it looks like, it matters how it tastes. Now for the absolute last step, sprinkle on some cocoa powder. And voila! Your labor of love is ready for consumption. Whether or not you choose to eat these on your own or share them with the rest of the world is up to you.