Oreo Poke Brownies Recipe

Poke cakes date back to the disco era, invented as part of a 1970s ad campaign by Jell-O urging people to use its product in baking. The dessert evolved over the years to include not just gelatin poke cakes but also pudding ones, such as our pineapple coconut poke cake. Developer Jessica Morone, however, puts her own spin on this venerable recipe by applying the pudding poke concept to chocolate brownies made with an Oreo pudding topping.

"Poke cakes are fun because you get to add extra flavor into the cake itself with things like pudding or Jell-O," Morone says, and she had a feeling that this would also work with a denser brownie. Here, she proves her hypothesis correct in the tastiest possible fashion. "The pudding adds additional Oreo flavor into the brownies themselves," she says, but notes that not all of it soaks in. This leaves a layer of Oreo flavor on top of the brownies, which she augments with a garnish of crumbled cookies, resulting in a decadent dessert bar.

For the brownie layer, you'll use flour, cocoa powder, salt, butter, granulated sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract. To make the pudding, you'll need a box of Oreo-flavored pudding mix and some milk to mix with it. You're also going to need powdered sugar to make the frosting, as well as Oreo cookies to top the frosted brownies.

Preheat the oven to 350 F.

Line a 13×9-inch baking pan with parchment paper.

Make the brownies: In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Set aside.

In a separate, large mixing bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract until smooth.

Add the dry ingredients to the bowl with wet ingredients and mix until just combined.

Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Bake in the preheated oven for 25–30 minutes, or until the edges are firm and the top is shiny.

Let the brownies cool slightly, then use a skewer or fork to poke holes all over.

Make the pudding: Pour the cold milk into a large bowl. Add the pudding mix and whisk for 2 minutes (it should still be more liquid than set).

Immediately pour 1 ½ cups of the pudding mix over the brownies. Reserve the remaining ½ cup pudding.

Once the brownies are totally cool, make the frosting: Beat together the melted butter, powdered sugar, cocoa powder, and reserved ½ cup pudding until smooth.

Spread the frosting evenly over the cooled brownies.

Sprinkle the chopped Oreos over the frosted brownies. Drizzle chocolate syrup over the chopped Oreos, if desired.

Remove the brownies and the parchment paper from the pan, cut into squares, and serve.

The perfect poke brownies start with the brownie layer, and Morone tells us to avoid over-baking the pan, since dry brownies won't taste as good — burnt ones, of course, are a sad write-off. If the edges of the brownies are set and a toothpick stuck into the middle comes out with no more than a few moist crumbs clinging on, the brownies should come out of the oven.

As for the pudding, Morone says to be sure that it doesn't set up before you use it to cover the brownies. As the directions say, you need to "pour" the pudding over the brownies, which means that it should still be in a somewhat liquid state in order for the brownies to absorb it. You'll need to let the pudding set aside for the frosting to set up, though, or that mixture might be too drippy.

Once you've baked, poked, and frosted your perfect brownies, you should keep them in the refrigerator; the pudding and frosting won't stay fresh at room temperature. You have up to five days to finish off the pan, but if you need longer, the brownies can also be frozen, frosting and all.

Even though you can't beat a classic, cookies-and-cream flavor scheme, you can always mix and match your ingredients to customize the brownies as you wish. Morone says, "The base of this recipe is really easy to change up to get different flavors," and says that either the cookies or the pudding mix or both can be easily swapped for another variety.

As one example, Morone suggests that you could try pairing lemon pudding with Oreo lemon cremes or using peanut butter Oreos with a chocolate peanut butter pudding. Sadly, Jell-O does not have a peanut butter flavor in its lineup at the time of writing, but you could make a DIY version by stirring a few spoonfuls of softened peanut butter into a chocolate pudding mix. Other possible mashups include either pistachio or coconut cream instant pudding mix with chocolate Oreos and pumpkin spice or banana pudding mix with golden Oreos. "You could really try any combination that pops into your head," Morone says. If you want to get extra fancy, you could always make homemade pudding, or even channel your inner Dorie Greenspan by baking homemade Oreos.