World's Best Brownies

I am NEVER making brownies from a box again.

This shows you how far I have come. When I was in college I thought the quality of your brownies was determined by how much fudge came in the box you bought at Publix. I didn't even know you could make brownies not from a box (isn't that absurd!) And lest you deduce anything about my mom or her cooking/baking from this travesty...don't. She was always inviting me into the kitchen but I was never interested in anything kitchen-related until I was a senior in college.

The learning curve has been steep.

Anyways, my mom has this AWESOME brownie recipe that I almost don't want to post. I sort of want to keep it for myself so that I when I bring brownies to your house you will ooh and ahh and invite me back just so I will bring more brownies. And then you will think that I am a FANTASTIC baker and you will tell everyone you know how fabulous I am...yada yada yada. All of those reasons really stink so I am going to post the recipe with altruistic goals. It is easy and SO delicious and you can then bake brownies and bring them to your friends and they will think you are fabulous :)



Chunky Chocolate Brownies (Serves 9)

Ingredients:
2 T water
3/4 c granulated sugar
1/2 c butter
1 (11.5 oz) package semisweet chocolate chunks (I use chocolate chips)
2 large eggs
1 t vanilla extract
3/4 c all-purpose flour
Powdered sugar for dusting (optional)


Instructions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Combine first 3 ingredients in a 3 1/2 qt saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in 1 c chocolate chunks until smooth. Let cool 5 minutes. Add eggs, 1 at a time, stirring just until blended. Stir in vanilla. Stir in remaining chocolate chunks. Combine flour and salt in separate bowl then stir into chocolate mixture. Spread into a lightly greased 9 inch square pan. Bake at 325 for 23-28 minutes. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar (optional) and cut into squares. May freeze baked brownies.

The hardest part is determining when they are finished. Because of the chocolate chunks, if you do the tooth pick test, the tooth pick always comes back gooey. I tend to bake the brownies closer to the 28 minute side. I make sure that they are starting to pull away from the edge of the pan before I take them out. The good news is that if you under cook them (which I occasionally do) that brownie goo tastes fantastic with vanilla ice cream and if you put the ice cream on top, your guests don't even have to know :)