It's a Brownie Kind of Day

It's Friday. A cold, wet, dull kind of day.  The perfect kind of day for brownies!  Don't you just love the fudgy, gooeyness of a chocolate brownie?  I love the crunchy edge and the thin, crispy top. Simply yum!

My brownie recipe is inexpensive, simple and uses pretty basic ingredients. Plus, they can be whipped up in about 10-15 minutes - prep time, that is.  I love to use my KitchenAid mixer whenever I can - I feel like Ina Garten or Ree Drummond when I'm using it.  Just look at the ribbons of gooey brownie batter cascading from the whisk!   By the way,  my homemade vanilla maturing away just to the left of the mixer (check out my blog about this here).

My brownie recipe isn't mine at all - it's simply from my Betty Crocker cookbook (but here's the link to the online version).

Betty Crocker Ultimate Brownies
Serves 16 (or 2 or 1!!!)

Ingredients
2/3 cup (151g) butter or margarine (I use butter)
5 oz unsweetened baking chocolate, cut into pieces (I use inexpensive dark chocolate from the chocolate aisle)
1 3/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
3 eggs
1 cup Gold Medal™ all-purpose flour (a.k.a. plain flour)
1 cup chopped walnuts (totally optional)

Directions

• 1 Heat oven to 350°F (180°C, or 160°C for fan ovens). Grease bottom and sides of 9-inch square pan. (I line the bottom with baking paper so the brownies will pop out of the pan easily once they're baked.) In 1-quart (small) saucepan, melt butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Cool slightly (while you do the next step).

• 2 In medium bowl, beat sugar, vanilla and eggs with electric mixer on high speed 5 minutes (or until the eggs and sugar have lightened in color which is about 3 minutes, but the longer the better). Beat in chocolate mixture on low speed. Beat in flour just until blended. Stir in walnuts, if using. Spread in pan.

• 3 Bake 40 to 45 minutes or just until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on cooling rack, about 2 hours. For brownies, cut into 4 rows by 4 rows.

Unfortunately, though, I won't be having any of these brownies... ok, maybe one... tomorrow.  One batch (in the bag) is going to the builders and volunteers who are helping with a DIY SOS build in Telford this week. DIY SOS is a show on BBC 1 that recruits local tradesmen to renovate homes so that sick or disabled family members can live better lives at home.  I'm excited to have the opportunity to help in a very, very small way.  The other batch is going with us tomorrow when we visit our long-time friends.  These brownies are so easy to make that they can be enjoyed any day of the week... like today!