Cocoa Brownies

Cocoa Brownies

 from Fat Witch Brownies by Patricia Helding

12 tbsp (1 1/2 sticks or 172.5g) unsalted butter
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup unbleached flour (plain flour)
1/2 tsp salt

Grease a 9 inch x 9 inch baking pan with butter. Dust with flour and tap out the excess. Pre-heat the oven 350*F or 180*C. All of Patricia Helding's recipes use a 9x9 baking pan. The only one I could find at the time was a silicon one. I hate it. It's wobbly and has to be on a baking sheet anyway to keep it from wrecking the baked goods it holds. Annoying. So, if you need to go out and purchase a new baking pan avoid silicon.

~Heat the butter in a saucepan on a low heat. Do not brown. ~Cool for 5 minutes.
~Add the cocoa powder (I had to sift mine as it was lumpy) and sugar into the saucepan and whisk until blended. ~Whisk in the eggs one at a time (this step it's crucial for the butter to be cooled you wouldn't want the eggs to cook blah!) until smooth and shiny. ~Add the vanilla, mix.
~Sift the flour and salt into the batter and mix gently until there is no trace of the dry ingredients.
~Now you can add whatever you'd like. I had some odds and ends so I added marshmallows and white chocolate chips.
~Spread into your prepared baking pan and ~bake for 30 minutes. Or until a toothpick comes out clean, no batter, crumbs acceptable.
~Cool for 1 hour. If you can wait that long!

Mini-Baker was invited to a friends for lunch so I whipped these up quickly for a treat. It was so easy. I don't know if I'll ever use another brownie recipe. (I joke) But this will definitely be my go-to brownie recipe when I need something quick. Everything was sitting in my fridge and cupboard waiting to be used! They were very good.

For those of you who remember yes I am on a "diet". I lost 1 1/2 lbs last week and am looking forward to this weeks weigh-in! One little brownie doesn't hurt as much as scarfing the whole pan does. So I'm told. If I was Nigella I would tell you "Everything in moderation, even moderation."  :0)

Resource: Fat Witch