Classic Brownies

Hi Friends!

I hope everyone is having a good week so far! Today I am sharing a recipe that has been in my family for generations. It is a two part brownie recipe using unsweetened chocolate. It was my grandmother’s recipe who just passed away this year at the age of 101. She was such great cook (as is my mom) and I hope one day to be as well! My grandfather really loved these brownies and every time my mom made them she made sure to first cut him a few and put them aside before the rest of us devoured them! Sadly when he passed away 14 years ago, my mom was so heartbroken that she stopped making them. Years later I was thumbing through her old recipe box and came across this recipe. I decided to take a copy of it and attempt to make them myself. I was a little bit intimidated at first because this recipe requires melting chocolate in a double boiler and I had never used one before. However, I really missed these brownies and knew I needed to figure out how to make them myself. On my first attempt they actually came out kind of lousy because I messed up how much chocolate to add (oops!), but since then I’m made them several more times and I think I’ve got it down!

Just an FYI that these are not your typical boxed mix brownies in terms of consistency and taste. Since we are using unsweetened chocolate, they are not overly sweet, but are just decadent enough to be the perfect chocolatey treat! In terms of consistency, these do not bake up super ooey gooey. It’s more of a dense brownie which actually makes for easier slicing when plating. This recipe requires two steps – step one is making the brownies and step two is making the chocolate frosting. I usually make these brownies in the evening, let them fully cool overnight, and then finish with the frosting in the morning. Give them a try and I don’t think you will be disappointed!

Classic Brownies

Part 1: Baking the Brownies

Ingredients:

For the brownies:

1/3 cup margarine

2 oz. unsweetened chocolate (I use Baker’s)

2 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2/3 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

Directions:

1.

1.

Preheat oven to 350° and grease a 9×9 square baking dish.

2.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, & salt in a separate bowl. Set aside.

3.

Melt chocolate and margarine in a double boiler over hot water using medium to low heat stirring very frequently in order to make sure the chocolate does not burn!

The four stages of my melting chocolate pictured below!

Once fully melted, turn off the heat, and move on to step 4 as the chocolate needs to cool.

4.

In a mixing bowl, beat eggs, sugar, and vanilla until foamy.

5.

Take the flour mixture from earlier and add all at once to the egg mixture and mix thoroughly until flour mixture disappears as shown below.

6.

Add the melted chocolate and mix throughly. Important: Be sure that the chocolate is not too hot before adding to this mixture. Touch the chocolate and make sure it is just slightly warm – you don’t want it to be so hot that is cooks the eggs!

All mixed and ready to go!

7.

Pour into greased dish and bake for 25 minutes.

First part complete! Fully cooked brownies!

Part 2: Making the Brownie Frosting

Be sure brownies are fully cooled before adding the frosting.

Ingredients:

1 oz. unsweetened chocolate

1 tablespoon butter

1 cup confectioners’ sugar

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 tablespoons boiling water

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions:

1.

Mix confectioners sugar and salt in a small bowl and set aside.

2.

Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler over hot water using medium to low heat, stirring frequently until melted.

3.

Stir in the confectioners sugar with salt from earlier. Add the boiling water to make the frosting thinner. Then add in the vanilla extract. Mix well. If frosting is still too thick continue to add very small amounts of water until the desired frosting consistency is reached.

4.

Add frosting to brownies and spread out evenly using a handy little frosting spatula.

5.

The frosting sets fairly quickly so after about 30 – 60 minutes in the fridge I took them out and cut them up. Slightly crumbly but came out pretty uniform!

6.

Enjoy with a tall glass of milk! Scrumptious!

These are great for bringing to any gathering and you can tell everyone that these are FROM SCRATCH not from some low class brownie mix!! You brought the good stuff and made them with love!

Do you enjoy baking like I do? If so, then I hope you try this recipe and enjoy these brownies! Let me know in the comments!

xo

Holly