The first brownie recipe

Here is the brownie recipe I used for that first, eventful Thursday night back in October 2005.  I have modified it slightly, but the results should be much more reliable.  As you will see, brownies from scratch are very simple - one of the wonders of brownies is that the results can be so wonderful with so little effort required to get there.  It is a shame that people use a boxed mix so full of chemicals and preservatives when there is so little added work needed to make brownies from scratch.

Our Basic Brownie Recipe

1 cup (2 sticks) butter

4 oz. unsweetened chocolate (quality matters; if you are going to cook from scratch, don't get cheap with your core ingredient)

2 cups sugar

4 eggs (room temperature if you have planned in advance, but don't fret it)

1 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans, preferably toasted - see the note below)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan.

Put the butter and chocolate in a metal bowl, and place it over a pot of simmering water to melt.  Stir occasionally until the mixture is smooth.  Remove it from the heat.  Let cool slightly. Stir in the sugar, then add the eggs one at a time, making sure to fully incorporate each before adding the next.  Stir in the flour, vanilla and salt.  Add the nuts, if desired.

Spread the mixture into the prepared pan.  Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a tester inserted in the center comes out clean.  Do not overbake!  Remove from oven, and cool completely before cutting.  Brownies are MUCH easier to cut at room temperature than not - my impatience to test the results has taught me this repeatedly!

NOTE:  I am a strong advocate for toasting nuts.  It adds little to the overall time needed and the added benefit is well worth the effort.  For walnuts or pecans, place the nuts on a baking sheet, and place them in a preheated oven (important that it is preheated) on 325 degrees for 10-15 minutes.  Given the pan a shake mid-way through to allow them to toast evenly.  They should be highly fragrant when you remove them; if they aren't, have faith and let them go a little longer.  (Just make sure you have a timer going to remind you to take them out; burnt nuts have a distinctive (read:  unpleasant and permeating) taste.)