Forget the Boxed Mix: Homemade Brownies

Our family Superbowl party needed a little pick-me-up. We decided to do build-your-own nachos for dinner but there was no dessert to be found. So I opened up the Betty Crocker cookbook to find something quick and easy. We decided on brownies since they're a family favorite, and these definitely are easy and delicious enough to make you never go back to the boxed stuff.

Needs:
5 oz. unsweetened Baker's chocolate
2/3 c butter
1 3/4 c sugar
3 eggs
1 c all-purpose flour
2 t vanilla

9x9 baking pan or round
greasing agent for the pan
mixer

Optional:
1 c chopped walnuts/pecans
1/2 bar of Hershey's chocolate, chopped (we used dark chocolate)

Do:

• Preheat oven to 350
• Grease baking pan
• In a double boiler, or on very low heat, melt butter and chocolate together stirring constantly.
• In a bowl beat sugar, vanilla, eggs with a mixer on high speed for about 4-5 minutes. (This is where a stand mixer came in handy because I just set the mixer on to go while I melted the chocolate & butter. If no stand mixer, grab an extra set of hands)
• Let chocolate/butter mixture cool slightly. (3-5 mins)
• On a low speed mix in chocolate mixture with sugar mixture. Remember to occasionally scrape the sides.
• Mix in flour until just incorporated, scraping the sides of the bowl well. I did this part with a spatula at the end.
• Stir in walnuts or extra chocolate pieces
• Bake for 40-45 mins. (I cooked mine in a dark pan so mine were done at about 35 mins in.)

These were the perfect brownies, plenty moist but a good crisp crust on them, which is a must in my house. They were very rich and chocolaty and put that spongey mess that comes out of a box to shame. With not much more effort than the boxed stuff, you get a much better product. 

I really wanted to get a great picture of them because of how absolutely delicious they were, but because of that I had to get an ugly one because everyone just devoured them.