Okay, so I made 4 batches of brownies in 6 days. Yes, that’s a little extreme but we had so much snow, I had to do something. And besides, brownies are the perfect food. Chocolate and bread, yum!
Anyway, this was all part of an experiment and one that I thank my husband for suffering through. Poor guy had to eat a lot of brownies. But it was worth it because I now have my favorite brownie recipe. My requirements were taste, texture, speed, ease of recipe, only use pantry staples and smallest number of dishes generated.
Blizzard of 2010 Brownies
2 oz of unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup of butter, plus a bit for the pan
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp coarse salt (definitely use coarse salt if you have it. huge difference!)
Preheat oven to 350. Butter a 8x8x2 pan. Melt the butter and the chocolate together, stirring frequently to combine. Remove from heat. Add eggs, sugar and vanilla and stir to combine. In another small bowl, combine flour, cinnamon and salt. Add flour mixture to the chocolate mixture and stir until combined. Pour into the buttered pan and bake for 30 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean. Cool, cut and try not to eat all in one sitting.
One more note: feel free to make this recipe, sell it, sell brownies made from it, don’t give me credit – that’s all fine. Just don’t add nuts to it. Nuts ruin a good brownie. :)
It was difficult, but I made it through. And, for the record, these were, in fact the perfect brownies. As is evidenced by the empty brownie pan…
Yum, these sound delicious! Might have to try this weekend. Can’t promise I won’t add nuts though. :-)
The licensing terms of this recipe explicitly preclude nuts. There’s even an enforcement mechanism- if you put nuts in the brownies, they will not be brownies at all, but some yucky nutty thing that looks like brownies, but tastes like nuts.
The never adding nuts part sounds great to me!
I totally agree…no nuts in the brownies! I can’t wait to taste these brownies at the beach…hint, hint! ;)
Yummmmmm!
When I was a kid, my gram would make a special small pan of brownies for me without nuts, because I couldn’t agree more – they ruin a perfectly good brownie. Brownies aren’t supposed to have crunch!
No nuts, ever?! I’m sorry, walnuts are absolutely required in brownies in our house … as evidenced by the soon-to-be-empty pan in our kitchen (there’s only 2 of us). Brownies without nuts are good, but brownies with nuts are better.
The great nut debate of 2010! I stand firm in my position about not having nuts in brownies but I respect those who think otherwise :)
Brownies and holidays… YUM! We would love to come out tomorrow… brownies or not!
Now that you’ve settled on your absolute favorite brownie, would you like me to send you the recipe that Meme used to always make for Pa? Supposedly “low-fat” by the way. Let me know. Hugs and kisses to all, nuts or not!
I just like brownies. BTW, Laura, we would love the recipe that Meme use to make!
I will be making these today. I have been on the hunt for a great brownie recipe. All that I have tried turn out terrible (it must be me) and I don’t want to be one that claims that boxed brownie mix is better. I will report back on my efforts.
I finally got the chance to make the Blizzard brownies and I enjoyed them tremendously. I had to stop myself from eating a piece earlier this morning. I keep looking at them but I will force myself to wait. Thanks again for the great recipe.
Laura: I second Jammie’s sentiment- send it! Tasmin: you won’t regret it, I promise. Unless you would regret eating a whole plate of brownies, at which point you might regret it just a little bit ;)
Tasmin I hope they work out for you! And Laura, I’d love the recipe!
I was thinking of this recipe on my way home tonight, as we don’t have cookies or sweets at all at our house, and the ingredients for the brownies are easy to have on hand. They’re delicious, and I love them, of course, but my favorite is your line about nuts ruining a good brownie. Lina, you’re awesome.