Homemade Brownies

The Mister and I love some good dessert (thus, all my cookie baking) but sometimes when I don't want to make four dozen cookies, brownies are a great substitute! Especially when you just use the box mix (our favorite is the Ghirardelli double chocolate brownie mix from Costco. Can't go wrong with bulk!

The other night we wanted a quick snack so I decided to make some homemade brownies since we were all out of mix. It was pretty easy, and the recipe I used was quite tasty too. Here's the recipe from my good old trusty Better Homes & Gardens Cookbook:

// 350 degrees // 30 minutes // makes 16 brownies (or 9 if you are like us) //

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate*
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup chocolate chips (optional)

*Note - if you don't have any unsweetened chocolate on hand, you can substitute (like I did!) 9 tablespoons cocoa powder plus 3 tablespoons cooking oil. Conversion is: 3 tablespoons cocoa and 1 tablespoon cooking oil  = 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate.

1. Melt butter and unsweetened chocolate (or substitute conversion) over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove and let cool.
2. Grease an 8x8 pan.
3. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
4. Stir in vanilla.
5. Stir in flour and baking soda.
6. Add chocolate chips (this makes them so much better!)
7. Spread in pan and bake for 30 minutes.

These ones turned out great. Not too doughy, not to crunchy. Just right.

We also love to bake our brownies as cupcakes too! My friend, Amanda, gave me this idea and I think it is genius! I actually like them a lot better this way because each brownie cupcake bakes evenly. You don't get the edge brownies that are super crunchy while your middle is all gooey. I even like to put a mini Reese's in there every once and a while too.