I’ve had kind of a crap week. I caught what I thought was another cold, but managed to kick it in the behind after 48 hours (with help from juicing and a lot of chicken broth). Yesterday, I had to work, and thought I’d bring a coffee cake for breakfast. Yeah, the directions said to just grease the Bundt pan….I should’ve gone with my gut, which was to grease and flour the pan, because the cake refused to come out at first, and when it finally did, it came out in chunks. Thanks, cake. This morning, I woke up with what I suspect is a migraine, which had me crying on the couch in pain this afternoon. It’s finally down to a mild ache, so I dug around in my old Everyday Food issues to find the recipe for my Favorite Brownies.

The recipe’s from the September 2008 issue, and I’ve been making them off and on since then. I realized it’s been well over a year, possibly two, since I’ve made these, and after yesterday’s Bundt fiasco, I decided I needed something tried and true, that’s never let me down (I know, famous last words, right?).

These brownies are like an old friend. Fudgey, studded with pecan chunks, all-around delicious. It is rare that I have a recipe memorized–As much as I cook and bake, and for as long as I’ve been making certain things, recipes are my safety net. Very rarely do I cook or bake without one. This recipe, though, I actually have memorized, which is one (of many reasons) why these are my favorite brownies.

Yield: 16

My Favorite Brownies

Print

Prep Time 20 minutes

Cook Time 30 minutes

Total Time 50 minutes

Ingredients

• 2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
• 1 oz. semi-sweet chocolate
• 1/2 C (1 stick) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering baking pan
• 1 C packed brown sugar
• 1/4 C white sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 1/4 tsp. baking powder
• 1/8 tsp. salt
• 1 C flour
• 1 C pecan pieces

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8x8-inch baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. Butter the parchment paper, and set the pan aside.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and the chocolate together over low heat. Remove from the heat, and stir in the sugars, eggs, vanilla, baking powder, salt and flour. Stir in the pecan pieces.
Spread the batter into the prepared pan, and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack, before lifting the brownies out with the parchment overhang, and cutting into 16 squares.

These brownies are perfectly good plain, but would be good topped with some vanilla ice cream and hot fudge sauce as well. Either way, they won’t last long in my house, although they’re easy enough, I should start making them again on a regular basis.

And, since I’ve been crappy at remembering to do this with my last couple giveaways, congrats to Sarah at Feisty Eats–She’s the winner of the Eggland’s Best Prize Pack!