Heather says:
I know it seems like a stretch, but you really don’t need a box mix to bake brownies. In fact you may already have everything on hand. If you can’t eat a whole batch, why not surprise a neighbor? It’s not like you’ll make an enemy offering chocolate.
Brownie
Ingredients:
- 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
- 2 1/4 cups sugar
- 1 1/4 cups Dutch-process cocoa
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 4 large eggs
- 1 1/2 cups All-Purpose Flour
- OPTIONAL Stir-ins
2 cups of chocolate chips
1 cup of roughly chopped walnuts
Preheat your oven to 350°F and grease a 9×13 baking pan. Place your butter in a heavy saucepan over low heat. While your butter is melting measure the cocoa, salt, and baking powder into your mixing bowl. Give them a quick stir with a fork to ensure the salt and baking powder are evenly distributed.
Crack your eggs into a measuring cup, add your 1 TBSP of vanilla, and also give this a brief stif to break the yolks.
Measure out your 1 1/2 cups of flour, but just hang onto it for now.
Make sure your thermometer doesn't touch the pan itself.
Has your butter melted yet? Good. Add your 2 1/4 cups white sugar to the butter and stir until well mixed. If you’re nervous about getting the mixture too hot, go ahead and use a thermometer. You are shooting for somewhere between 110°F and 120°F. Whatever you do, do not bring this to a boil. This step is to give the sugar a headstart dissolving, but not to finish the job.
Carefully scrape your butter and sugar into your mixing bowl that has the cocoa, salt, and baking powder. Mix on low until just combined. If you don’t have mixer this one is a cinch to stir by hand as there are no long mixing times. Slowly add your eggs. Estimate about one egg per addition, it does not have to be precise.
Add the flour and stir until just mixed. Use a spatula to scrape the sides and bottom of the bowl once while mixing.
Pour into your greased 9 x 13 pan and bake at 350°F for 30 – 35 minutes. Use a toothpick to test the center of the pan. If there is batter on the tooth pick, return to the oven for 2 minutes.
Place the pan on a rack to cool for at least 10 minutes before slicing (use a plastic knife to avoid scratching your pan) and allow to cool completely.
Enjoy
[...] Our basic brownie recipe is designed for a 9×13 pan. When checking brownies for doneness the center should be set, but it may appear soft. Use a toothpick and insert it into the very center of the pan. Very moist crumbs are ok, but raw batter is not. When you near the end of the cook time, only return the brownies for two minutes at a time and err on the side of underdone. [...]
[...] case you need recipes, here’s several that will travel well: chocolate chip cookies, brownies, oatmeal cookies, biscotti, snickerdoodles, chocolate no-bake cookies. (And our newfound ability to [...]