In the Kitchen: Easy basic brownies (with chocolate or butterscotch chips)

I used to be a huge fan of Little Debbie’s snack size brownies.

They are gooey, chewy, and have just a few walnuts for that tiny bit of nutrition/crunch (or that’s my rationalization!).  I definitely loved to sneakily grab a box or two as we snaked through the supermarket aisles. They would also make for valuable lunch time trading currency (but come on, I always just ate mine).

But even though I baked cakes as a child, for some reason, I never tried making brownies until quite recently.

Then I discovered that they are SUPER easy and wondered why I wasted time on cakes that took a while to make but still got greedily devoured.

I followed this simple recipe and added a few additions of different chips for both an extra boost of sweetness and a different, gooey bite.

Adapted from Smitten Kitchen adapted from Gourmet Magazine

Basic Brownies

Ingredients

• 1/3 cup + 1 TB unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 3 ounces unsweetened or bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preparation

1. Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 350°F. Butter an 8-inch square baking pan.

2. Heat butter and chocolate in a heavy saucepan or double boiler over moderately low heat, whisking occasionally, just until melted.

3. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs, vanilla, and a pinch of salt until well combined. Whisk in flour until just combined and spread in baking pan.

4. Bake until edges are slightly puffed and center is just set, about 35 minutes.

5. Chill brownies for at least one hour to firm up (unless you’d want a warm soft brownie right away!)  While the brownies are chocolately and delicious right out of the oven, they aren’t quite stiff enough to hold.

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