Anyway, after ‘ranting’ about boxed brownies, here’s my favorite brownie. I originally found this on a cocoa can way back in the late ’70′s or early ’80′s. At some point, they changed the can, and I’d never written it down. For years, I looked on every can in the store, and now and then asked other cooks, but never found the recipe again until Nestle published it on their website a few years ago. I’ve adapted it slightly.
Chewy Brownies
These are the brownies that got me a proposal once… how cheated would he have felt when I lost the recipe for 20 years! (Your results may vary in the proposal department, but if I were you, I’d be careful who you serve these to!) They are pure chocolate: A dark, shiny crust and just enough chew with little pockets of chocolate inside.
The boiling water makes the cocoa taste much richer. The chocolate added at the end should be largish chunks, really, so as to not just melt into the batter, which can make the brownie a bit oily. Chocolate chips will add the richer taste, but once melted, disappear. Larger chunks you cut yourself, or buy, now that they are available, are much better. Not a particularly attractive brownie, but the taste makes up for it.
Rich & Chewy Brownies Makes 15 brownies, approximately 2″ x 3″
- 3/4 cup cocoa
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 2/3 cup butter, melted and divided
- 1/2 cup boiling water
- 2 cups sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/3 cup flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chunks, preferably dark; use chocolate chips in a pinch, or the newer chocolate chunks that come in a bag.
- optional: dark and white chocolate for a drizzle
Grease a 9 x 13″ pan. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Bring a cup of water to boil.
Stir cocoa and soda together in large bowl. Stir in 1/3 cup melted butter, add 1/2 cup boiling water and stir until thickened.
Stir in sugar, eggs and rest of butter until smooth. Add flour, vanilla and salt. Fold in chocolate chunks.
Bake 35 -40 minutes until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Do NOT over bake – you can’t test these with a toothpick – they’re done when they start to pull away from the edge of the pan. Cool completely in pan. Drizzle with white and dark chocolate if desired.
Money Saving Strategies:
- Chocolate: Of course, use the best you can in this or any chocolate recipe. I often find the chocolate chunks on special at the same time as the chocolate chips, and both the Hershey’s and Nestle’s sites will often have coupons.
- Butter: Goes on sale often at our store; I buy as much as possible when it is as low as possible, especially around the Holidays, and keep frozen until ready to use.
- Eggs: Go on sale quite often and keep for weeks. There’s no sense in buying them when the cost is at its highest.
- Baking Ingredients: Again, I stock up during the Holidays when they are so often on sale. I’ll freeze flour for four days when I first bring it into the house, it lasts longer that way without spoilage.
Nutritional Information:
Per Serving (excluding unknown items): 288 Calories; 13g Fat (39.1% calories from fat); 3g Protein; 43g Carbohydrate; 2g Dietary Fiber; 50mg Cholesterol; 173mg Sodium. Exchanges: 1/2 Grain(Starch); 0 Lean Meat; 2 1/2 Fat; 2 Other Carbohydrates.
Your Own Spin:
- My favorite way to eat these is plain, with milk. Rewarm in the microwave, if desired for a few seconds.
- Drizzle with dark and white chocolate – about 1/2 cup to a teaspoon of melted butter or shortening.
- Sprinkle a little powdered sugar on top.
- Serve with ice-cream, and you can’t go wrong with ice-cream and/or butterscotch or caramel sauce.
My Payoff: A simple, easy to make brownie that requires only a little bit more effort than the boxed. I was literally done making them before the oven was done preheating. These Chewy Brownies are simply once of the best, chocolaty brownies you’ll ever have, with no strange added ingredients, and no trans fat.
Related articles
- Selecting the Best Brownie Mix (savings.com)
