Easy Brownies

I have a love/hate relationship with brownies. I’m pretty picky about how I like them.  I usually don’t eat other people’s brownies.  I know.  Brownie snob—it’s a texture thing, sorry.  My mom has a recipe for brownies that she loves and has used for years.  I wanted to like it but her brownies always give me heartburn. (I’m sure it has nothing to do with the fact that I eat four or five at a time.)

Her recipe also calls for baker’s chocolate, you know, the kind that comes in those bricks—well, I never have that on hand, so I needed a recipe that used either chocolate chips or unsweetened cocoa powder (because I always have those on hand.)

Here’s my current favorite recipe—which makes a batch of brownie goodness that isn’t too fudgy or too cakey in texture.  Also, it’s quick to put together (my eight year old just made these today) and it’s easily doubled or quadrupled or…well, we’ll stop there.

Brownies

1/2 c. butter, melted

1/2 c. unsweetened cocoa

1 c. sugar

2 eggs

2 t. vanilla (I only use 1 t. because I think 2 t. is overpowering.)

1/2 c. flour

1/4 t. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease an 8 or 9 inch square pan.  In a medium bowl, combine melted butter, cocoa, sugar, and eggs.  Blend with electric mixer until sugar isn’t grainy and the mixture looks like thick frosting. Mix in vanilla and salt. Stir in flour.

Optional: add a handful of chocolate chips, flaked coconut, chopped nuts, or whatever else sounds tempting, and mix into the batter.

Pour and spread batter in greased pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick (or tip of a butter knife) comes out clean.  Cool completely, cut into squares, or hexagons, or whatever and serve.  If you like fudgier brownies, under-bake by a couple of minutes.  If doubling the recipe, you may need to add up to five minutes more to baking time.