Fudge Brownies

This is one of the most popular things I make, and they're super easy.  I'm serious, all you need is a pot and a spatula.  You don't even need a mixer.


Recipe:
1/2 Cup (1 Stick) Butter
1/2 Cup Cocoa
1 Cup Sugar
2 Eggs
2 teaspoons Vanilla
1/2 Cup All-Purpose Flour
Dash of Salt


Preheat oven to 350° F.  Butter an 8 x 8 inch pan.
In a medium sauce pan, melt butter.  When melted, remove from heat and stir in cocoa until well blended.  Stir in Sugar.  Add eggs one at a time, add vanilla and mix well.  Stir in flour and salt.  Do not overbeat.
Spread in greased pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Cool 10 minutes before slicing and removing from pan.

Look at those! I bake mine about 25 minutes, so they're chewier.  These brownies have a great texture -- a little crunch on the top, and then dense, chocolate-y goodness.


Now, about cocoa: My favorite brand of cocoa is Saco.  It's a blend of natural and Dutched cocoa and it has an amazing flavor.  I've done these with other brands, like Hershey's special dark cocoa, and they're pretty good.  Not as amazing as with the Saco, but still good.


I've also experimented with adding things to these, like chocolate chunks, nuts, a little mint flavor, and so on.  Which are all good, but something I recently tried that's really good is Horlicks the delicious, malty, hot beverage.  A table spoon of this, added before the flour, gives the brownies a nice, subtle malt aroma and just a little of that malty flavor.  It's not enough to turn them into, like, chocolate malt brownies, but it adds a little something that even malt haters can't complain about.


Enjoy!