Friday, May 2, 2008

Susie's brownie recipe

I wanted to follow through on my promise of sharing my favorite brownie recipe that was given to me by my good pal Susie. She's a great baker, and since she moved to California last year, I've missed her treats. Luckily I got this recipe out of her (and her recipe for banana bread) before she split town. I love this recipe for the intense chocolatiness and the ease of preparation. I'm not sure if she made this recipe, or if she just knew a good thing when she saw it, but it's definitely a good thing. Without further ado...

Easy Cocoa Brownies (a la Susie)

Preheat your oven to 350 (F).

1/2 c. melted butter
1 t. vanilla
1 c. sugar
2 eggs, beaten

Mix butter and sugar thoroughly. Stir in vanilla and beaten egg mixture.

1/2 c. all-purpose flour (EK note: I made these once with WW flour, and didn't like the texture as much. Now I usually use King Arthur)
1/4 t. aluminum-free baking powder
1/3 c. unsweetened cocoa
1/4 t. salt

Sift together, and mix with the wet ingredients.

Spread in a greased 9" square pan. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until brownies start to pull away from the edges of the pan or when a toothpick inserted in the middle comes out clean.

Voila!

For the version I made for Saturday's rampin' road trip, I used just slightly less sugar (maybe reduced by 2 T.), and added a vanilla buttercream frosting with a few drops of red food coloring to make it a soft pink fluff color.
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I used:
3 c. powdered/confectioners sugar
1 c. softened butter
1 t. vanilla
2-3 T. half and half (you could use milk, that's just what I had on hand)
3-ish drops of red food coloring
some colored sugar sprinkles, if you wanna

It makes a lot. Use the leftovers to make your girlfriend "icing balls" (don't ask), or refrigerate for about a week or so.

Stay tuned next week for tales of my fantastic dinner last night with Barbara at Eleven. Wowza. Up there with one of my all-time favorite meals. Fresh, seasonal, interesting, delicious. That is what I'm talkin' about.

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Hi, Keens. Congrats on finding a place! I'm away on business and will check in when I return.

I agree that Susie's brownie recipe is fantastic. But seriously. Let's get it out of the spotlight and hear about how a Keenuts is doing.

Love you.

just jess said...

I love this story!

Dazy said...

Delicious looking and delicious tasting and quite simple to make! I've never made Banana Cream Pie before. These were pure delight and I'm sure to make them again.