The Baked Brownies & Giveaway Winners

 This actually wasn't the recipe that I was going to make for the family dinner this weekend, but since my aunt, Angie (the one who recently moved back) has a birthday soon and she likes brownies I decided to make a batch.

  Angie is a very, very picky eater. She doesn't like fruits, only eats a few vegetables,and she only likes simple flavors. She didn't even like this and it was a huge hit at Thanksgiving, but she likes plain (nut-free) brownies. I knew that I couldn't add any special ingredients like roasted cherries, bourbon vanilla, or anything like that in the dessert or she wouldn't touch it so I looked up for a basic brownie recipe. The recipe also had to make enough to serve a big crowd since there were going to be 15 adults, a 4 1/2 year old, an almost 1 year old, and a 2 month old at this Sunday's dinner. 


  I changed up the recipe a bit to fit what I had available which is why I typed the notes before the instructions since you might want to change it a bit. These brownies would be good for someone who is new to baking to try because since I ended up having to bake these for 10 minutes longer than the recipe called for (used the wrong type of pan) and they were still moist and the corners didn't get rock hard like with some recipes. The recipe calls for 2 cups of sugar and at first I almost cut some up it, but I'm glad I didn't. These brownies are not that sweet, just extremely rich and fudgy. 

Brown Cow's Cream Top Greek Yogurt Giveaway Winners: 
The 4 winners to receive 7 coupons for Brown Cow's 6oz Cream Top Greek Yogurt are:
#1 Anonymous
#5 SensualAppeal
#10 Becky
# 20 Gina M
                                                 
                                                       

The Baked Brownie (Fudgy Brownies)

adapted: Brown Eyed Baker

2 sticks (1 cup) butter, cut into pieces
12 oz semi-sweet chips
1 tsp espresso powder (optional- I onmitted)
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1/4 tsp salt
2 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
5 large eggs, at room temp.
2 tsp vanilla extract

Notes:
-I used semi-sweet chocolate chips instead of dark since that is what most people in the family prefer or milk chocolate, but I don't like milk chocolate. I had a 12oz bag so I just added the last 1 oz into the batter with the flour so I used 12 oz of chocolate instead of the original 11oz.
-I omitted the espresso powder. I know it enhances the chocolate flavor and you normally can't really tell it's in the batter, but some people in my family have very sensitive pallets and they also hate coffee so I just left it out to be safe.
-I used salted butter so I cut the salt down to 1/4 tsp. You could even omit it if you use salted butter.
-I used dark brown sugar instead of light because it's what I had.
- I used an aluminum pan because we only had 8x8 glass pans (which I could have used ) and it took about 10 minutes longer to bake than the recipe said and it also caused the brownies to crack a little when I removed it from the oven since it wasn't a sturdy pan.

Instructions:
1. Preheat over to 350F. Line a 9x13'' glass or light colored pan with parchment or foil and grease with non-stick spray or butter.
2. In a small-medium bowl, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
3. In a large bowl, melt the butter, chocolate, and espresso powder (if using) over a double boiler, stirring occasionally until smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and whisk in the sugars. Remove the bowl from over the pan and let the chocolate mixture come to room temperature (time will vary).
4. Add 3 eggs into the cooled chocolate mix and whisk until combined. Add in the other eggs and vanilla extract. Don't over mix the batter at this stage or you will get a lot of air bubbles.
5. Slowly add in the flour mixture and mix using a spoon or spatula.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 30 minutes, or until a tooth pick comes out with a few crumbs when inserted in the middle. Let the brownies cool completely before cutting into squares.

Store at room temp. in a plastic container or wrap in plastic wrap.