Killer Brownies: (makes one 9x13" pan, one serving or as many as you like...)
4 ounces (squares) unsweetened baking chocolate
1 ounce (square) semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
1 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp vanilla bean paste (well, really, I think you could go with 2 tsp of vanilla, and yes, you can use extract instead of paste, but as I've said, ad nauseum, I'm a vanilla freak and will add extra vanilla wherever I believe it will enhance a recipe)
1 tsp. salt
2 cups (here is where you can go nuts with variations) mini semi sweet chocolate chips, or half nuts, half chips, or add 2 cups of chips and 1 cup of nuts, or macadamias, or pecans, or whatever you fancy that you think will be nummy in brownies, experiment! Go for it! I am using pecans and chocolate chips for these today. Mmmmmmm……
-Preheat oven to 350f, grease a 9x13" pan with pan spray.
-Melt the butter, unsweetened chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate squares together.
-Stir sugar into the melted butter/chocolate mixture, let cool for about 10 minutes.
-Stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until well blended after each addition, add the vanilla.
-Mix in the flour and salt until just blended, and then stir in the chocolate chips, or nuts, or blend of both or whatever you are going to stir in. Pour the mixture into the prepared 9x13" pan.
-Bake the brownies for 20 to 30 minutes. You don't want to overbake these. I bake them until the top has formed a crust, and until they spring back a bit (they will not spring back like cake will) when gently pressed in the center of the pan (they will still be a bit moist).
-Allow to cool to room temperature, brew a cup of coffee and enjoy! Or, if you have ice cream on hand, serve them warm with a big scoop of vanilla ice cream. Oh, what I wouldn't give for a pint of vanilla ice cream right now!
Happy Baking! And thank you to those of you who wished me a quick recovery this past week when I was down with the flu.
yuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuumyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy!!!!!!!!!!!