Prize Brownies

I don't quite believe these brownies were worthy of a prize, but they are rather good, even unadorned. I'm glad I had the sense (laziness) to skip the frosting-they are rich and sweet enough as they are.

The recipe has no leavening-no baking powder or soda, and doesn't even call for salt. I added salt. I expected them to be heavy, but they were surprisingly light-not quite cake-like, but not dense and chewy either. I skipped the walnuts and tossed in a handful of milk chocolate chips, but it really didn't need them.

I've yet to find a brownie recipe that I feel is extraordinary, but you could honestly do much worse than these. Perhaps I just don't like brownies, though the fact that I've already eaten 1/4 of the pan alone would seem to contradict that. Come on, you know how it is. A few always break coming out of the pan-it isn't like you can stick the broken brownies onto a serving platter, right? You know I'm right, because you do it too. Don't you? Of course you do. So as I was saying, you should probably pass on the frosting...

From Better Homes and Gardens Cookies and Candies, 1966

You Will Need:

1/2 cup softened butter
1 cup granulated sugar (I used vanilla sugar and skipped the extract)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled slightly
1/2 cup AP flour
Dash of salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (I omitted and used chocolate chips instead)

Grease an 8x8 pan. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Cream butter, sugar and extract together. Beat in eggs. Blend in chocolate, then flour and salt. Mix well. Fold in nuts or chips. Pour into pan and bake 30-35 minutes. Cool before cutting. Frost at your own peril.