Brownies: Cake, but Better



Friday night rolled around and I was sitting at home with almost nothing to do.  The hubby was studying (he has medical boards coming up) and therefore not paying much attention to the task of entertaining me.  The cat was getting annoyed with my constant harassment.  So what did I do?  I decided to bake something.  Of course, deciding to bake something and deciding what to bake are two totally separate processes.  So I asked one household taste tester what he wanted (and got a blank stare followed by a meow and a head bump).  So I went to ask my hubby what he wanted.

Me: "If you could eat anything right now what would it be?"
Hubby: "Broast" (he has this obsession with broast, which to me is just fried chicken)
Me: "Nooo.... I need to make something for the blog.  What dessert would you want?"
Hubby: Gulab Jamun (an Indian dessert, which I WILL tackle one day)
Me: I don't have the ingredients for that (did I mention it was 10 pm?)
Hubby: uhh... brownies?
Me: okay, brownies it is.

So I set about the task.  Now I have to be honest.  I have never made brownies from scratch.  I know.  I am usually all about trying to make things from scratch as much as possible, but brownies?  I mean, ghiradelli makes a boxed mix.  What could be better than that?  I will tell you what.  These:

thick. rich. dense. chewy. delicious.

I never knew how easy making brownies from scratch was.  Dang.  I don't know why I would ever bother with a boxed mix again... the ingredients are pretty basic and I usually have them lying around.  Ghiradelli, move over.  There is a new brownie in the oven.

So here goes nothing.

As per usual, preheat the oven and grease your pan.

butter works well.  Or go with Pam.

Then mix together the sugar, melted butter (or use oil or apple sauce if you want to be healthier) and vanilla. Then mix in the eggs.  Of course as I was cracking the eggs, I noticed something abhorrent: an eggshell. 

the egg shell is close to the top yolk. Brownie party crasher!

So it is time for a handy little baking tip- how to get rid of egg shells in your food.  Its actually quite simple: just take the larger shell and use a clean, uncrumbly edge to scoop out the offending shell particle. Its much easier to fish the piece out with the rest of the shell than you fingers because it will stick to the shell. :)  Magic.

One little scoop and the shell is gone!

Now back to our brownie batter party.  Once the eggs are mixed in, set the mixture aside and start on the dry ingredients.  Mix together the cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder.  Once its all mixed together, slowly add the dry mixture to the wet and combine well.  I did this in thirds and that worked out okay.



wet mix, meet dry mix.



add the dry to the wet concoction slowly

Once it is mixed you can mix in your favorite brownie surprises.  The recipe calls for walnuts, but I decided to use chocolate chips because nothing is better than chocolate except more chocolate.  Just to warn you, the batter is pretty thick, so have a good mixing utensil handy!

Once it was all mixed well, its time to pour it into a pan and let it bake for about 25 minutes.  Of course the type of pan will make the time vary, so start checking on it around 20 min.  Once a knife or toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean, its done!

Allow to cool before eating.  Or go ahead and eat it and end up with a burned tongue.  Lets just say, my loss of taste buds was worth it.

Print Mmm-Mmm Better Brownie Recipe

Ingredients:

1/2 cup melted butter (or vegetable oil)

1 cup white sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 cup walnuts, or other mix in of your choice

1.	Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.
2.	In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.
3.	Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

source: allrecipes.com