I promised that I was going to do something new. Something I’ve never done on this blog before. If you are all about no sugar, no fat and all natural ingredients, then you may not want to read any further.
On the other hand, if you like luscious, chocolaty goodness…read on my friend.
I make REALLY good homemade brownies. They are SO incredibly easy that once you get used to making them you can make them as quickly as you can open and prepare a boxed brownie mix. Seriously. I promise!
I recently received an e-mail from my cousin. A silent lurker on my blog *smile* asking if I would share my recipe. Well, I was happy to do it. It really isn’t MY recipe. I got it off the back of a bag of Nestle Chocolate Chips years ago. If you want, you can find the recipe here.
Here are the ingredients you will need:
not pictured, but needed: 9×13 pan,
aluminum foil and cooking spray
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, cut into pieces
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup granulated sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 cup chopped nuts
I recommend assembling all your ingredients at once and get out your baking pan.
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
Measure 1 cup of the chocolate chips (half a 12 oz. bag) and put the chips and the stick of butter in a saucepan over low to medium heat. And yes, I use REAL butter.
While the butter & chocolate chips are melting, take your baking pan and tear of a strip of aluminum foil slightly longer than your pan and follow Steps 1, 2 and 3.
step 1
step 2
step 3
Turn the pan over and put the foil “pan” into the aluminum pan
Then spray the foil lined pan with cooking spray.
By now your buttery chocolate goodness has been on low to medium heat for a few minutes. It should begin to look like this…give it a stir.
Then this…stir again.
Measure your dry ingredients and add the remaining 1 cup of chocolate chips to the dry ingredients.
And check on the chocolaty goodness…stir it until no lumps of chocolate remain. (this can be done in the microwave, but for some reason, I prefer the stove.)
Once this mixture is thoroughly melted and combined (it only takes a few minutes) remove from the heat and let cool for a few minutes. Add your 3 eggs and beat well with a spoon.
Then add your dry ingredients to which you have already added your chocolate chips, to the chocolate mixture.
Add the vanilla
Stir this mixture by hand approximately 25 strokes…do not over beat, making sure to scrape the bottom and sides of the pan.
Pour the lusciousness into your foil lined pan, spreading to the edges of the pan.
And put the pan into your preheated oven.
Bake for 18-23 minutes…I bake mine for 22. Exactly.
A toothpick should look like this…
Bake a minute or two less for fudgier brownies, but this is perfect IMHO. 🙂
Let the pan cool for about 5 minutes, if you can wait that long and remove the foil to a cooling rack.
And…do you know the BEST knife for cutting brownies?
Yes, a plastic knife. See…no tearing of the brownies and the brownies don’t stick to the knife!
ENJOY…
Here are a few hints:
if you do not let the chocolate mixture cool for a few minutes before adding the eggs, your eggs might cook a bit.
AND if you get really good at making them and you go through the steps so quickly the mixture can be hot enough that when you add the last cup of chocolate chips they melt too.
One of most lovely aspects of this recipe is that they are DOUBLE chocolate…chocolate dough and chocolate chips IN the dough.
If there are any brownies left after the first hour, these are great microwaved for a few seconds. They taste like they are fresh out of the oven.
I have served these as dessert at a dinner party by using a red wine glass which I swirl chocolate syrup around the inside top so it streams down the inside of the glass. The put in a scoop of vanilla ice cream and bite-sized brownie pieces. Top with more chocolate syrup and a shot of whipped cream. YUM. YUM.
My son says he would give the brownies two thumbs up, except he is too busy licking his thumbs after eating the brownies!
So…what is your favorite easy, from scratch recipe? I’d love to hear!! AND…please, if you try these, do let me know! Pretty please…
I have been lucky enough to try your brownies and I'd like to testify that they are indeed the BEST brownies ever. Very much worth the little bit of extra work involved.
If I come to your house, will you make some for me…That sounds so much better than me doing it…..but seriously they look and sound delicious. Have a great weekend….
As the weeks have drug on it has been easy for me to lose hope.
Will things ever get back to some type of normal? People were not created to live in isolation.
Will we be able to see someone smile or will we always look at them and only see their eyes?
Will people gather without having to sit 6’ apart?
I don’t know the answer and I’m not posting this to debate the news media’s portrayal of the pandemic.
I’m sharing this today because I spent some time with the Lord thanking him for the things I DO have and not focusing on the things I don’t have. The things I have lost since March.
I looked up scriptures about hope.
I made a list in my prayer journal of things I’m grateful for.
Life goes on. Life crisis continues even during this pandemic. People die naturall and tragically. And babies are born. And weddings happen and new lives begin.
This crisis in our world isn’t a surprise to God.
And my hope and security is in Him.
If you scroll through the photos, you see things that made me smile this morning and reminded me of the goodness of God - even now.
With all the grief and sadness in the world I wasn’t sure how I would handle today. How I would allow myself to grieve this loss? Today when there has so much WRONG in our world. In a post @deidrariggs shared today she reminded us that life goes on. And I realized that today this is my life. And I can grieve this loss. My life goes on... I am thankful for the 4 days we had her. On Friday I will remember each event of her last day and I will remember her dying in my arms.
And I will be both sad and grateful. #infantloss #trisomy18 #stlouischildrenshospital
I have been lucky enough to try your brownies and I'd like to testify that they are indeed the BEST brownies ever. Very much worth the little bit of extra work involved.
These look delicious. Love the idea of using the plastic fork and your fancy dinner party edition. Fun.
Fondly,
Glenda
Oh the yumminess! I can't wait to give these a try. The box brownies have become rather boring.
If I come to your house, will you make some for me…That sounds so much better than me doing it…..but seriously they look and sound delicious. Have a great weekend….
I want to come over and eat them in your pretty wine glass and visit with you!
So yummy, thanks. Beautiful, sweet story. One thing, I don’t think anyone should be using margarine. It is so bad for you.
Thank you for stopping by, Cynthia. These are delicious! And I use butter all the time.:-)