This is our all time favorite Chocolate Brownie Recipe. It is rich and dark and wonderful. Please do not let the number of steps scare you, it is not that hard or time consuming and the finished product is more than worth it. This is also a great recipe because it uses cocoa powder rather than baker’s chocolate, so there is no melting to do.
I do not remember the exact information, but this recipe came from a Brownie and Bar Cooking booklet by Pillsbury.
Ingredients:
¾ cups Cocoa Powder
½ teaspoon Baking Soda
2/3 cup Melted Butter – Divided into two 1/3 cup portions
½ cup Boiling Water
2 cups Sugar
2 Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 1/3 cup Flour
¼ teaspoon Salt
Step-By-Step Instructions and Photos
Measure everything out before you begin mixing. This is not a recipe you want to walk away from to measure flour or something. As you can see here, everything is measured out into separate bowls, the water is boiling in the kettle and the measuring cup is ready to be poured into, the vanilla is measured in with the cracked eggs so as not to have to do it later, and the first 1/3 cup of butter is melted and ready to use. The cocoa and soda are still in the sifter to show how to sift out the lumps.
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Sift Cocoa and Soda together to eliminate lumps.
Add first portion of butter to cocoa/soda mixture. This should form a thick paste. Immediately put the second portion of butter in to melt.
Add boiling water to butter/cocoa paste and stir until it becomes smooth and thickens. This will look like a lumpy, watery mess at first and will seem to never work, but eventually the lumps will dissolve and the mixture will thicken.
Stir in the sugar. Mix well to ensure that it is thoroughly mixed.
Stir in the egg/vanilla mixture. Again, making sure to mix well.
Add the second portion of butter.
Add the flour mixture and mix well, but do not overmix.
Pour into greased 9x13 baking dish. Bake for 30-40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Variations:
This is great with ¾ cups of either chocolate chips or chopped walnuts added after the flour.
