Simple Brownie Recipe with a Chocolate Frosting

For the past few months, my grandparents, my aunt, and uncle have been coming out the the ranch on Sunday nights so we can have dinner and see each other since we all go to different churchs now, and dont get to see each other that often. Well I found a recipe for brownies and I thought that I could make it for our sunday dinner since everyone in my family loves sweets, especially brownies. I decided to make a 1/2 batch yesterday, just to make sure that they tasted good, before i made it for everyone else to eat. (pictured below)

The brownies turned out to not only be simple to make, but they tasted good too. If you usually make a store bought brownie mix, and you think that this recipe will taste similar, then you would be wrong. These brownies are rich and fudgy and oh so decadent.I ended up letting my parents have a small piece and took the rest over to a family friend who works at a salon, so she and her clients could have something sweet to eat.
 There is also a frosting that you can make which you can use on the brownies or omit.

Here is the Recipe:

Simple brownies:

Makes about 4 dozen

Total Time: 1 hr. 45 min.

·         1 ½ cups chopped Pecans (you can add whatever nut you like, or candy pieces, or just omit it overall)

·         1 (4oz) Unsweetened Baking Chocolate (I used Baker’s)

·         ¾ Cup Butter

·         2 cups Sugar

·         1 Cup All Purpose Flour

1.       Preheat oven to 350 and toast the pecans in a dry skillet for about 6-8 minutes, or until you can smell them.

2.       Microwave chocolate and butter in a microwave safe bowl for about 1-1 ½ minutes or until melted, stirring about every 30 seconds. Whisk in sugar and then add the eggs until well blended. Stir in the flour.

>> You can either add the nuts into the batter or just wait, and add them on top if you are adding a frosting or Caramel.

3.       Spread into a 13X9 inch pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes or until a tooth pick is inserted and comes out with a few moist crumbs.

4.        Let the Brownies cool until you can lay your hand on the top and it feels mostly cool and then you can add either a chocolate frosting or heat up a jar of caramel sauce and pour over the brownies. Overall, the brownies will need about 1 hour to full cool down and not fall apart when you cut into them.

Chocolate Frosting

·         ½ cup butter

·         1/3 cup milk

·         6 Tbsp. unsweetened cocoa (you could also use milk choc. chips instead)

·         1 (16 oz.) package of Powdered Sugar

·         1 tsp. Vanilla extract

1.      Cook the first 3 ingredients over medium heat in a saucepan, stirring constantly, for about 5 minutes. Remove from heat and pour into a large bowl. Add in the powdered sugar and vanilla and beat at medium speed until smooth.

>>>>>Here is a close-up picture from a batch that I made today for the family dinner. I used milk chocolate in the frosting instead of the cocoa powder, so it is lighter. The frosting never really gets hard, it will get "shell" on the top, but will be gooey underneath.

Mississippi Mud Brownies: You can make the brownies recipe and frosting recipe as directed and then add pecans and mini marshmallows on the top of the slightly warm brownies and top with the frosting.
Rocky Road Brownies: Make the Brownies like the Mississippi Mud Brownies except replace pecans for sliced or chopped almonds