Looking.

Try not to laugh when I share this wee secret ... sometimes a cake mix is a person's best friend.

I do have a wonderful 'home made' recipe for brownies which I will be happy to share with you (shall find it after the children are safely tucked into bed tonight and I've had at least 4 cups of very strong coffee - gentle smile), but ...

A Duncan Hines or Betty Crocker chewy brownie mix ... substitute half the oil called for with fresh, room temperature butter ... add one teaspoon more water than the instruction call for ... and honestly, they are terrific!

Mara,

You are a dear. Thanks.

I don't live in a place where mixes are easy to come by, so while I can get some home-grown versions of brownies as mixes, they are not .... the same. So I'd be delighted with a real recipe. I expect the thing I've been not doing as I've tried to figure it out has to do with brown sugar. There must be something sticky in them to cause the perfect chewy-gooyness.


Zllio

Here you go, Zllio - enjoy! ... the secret to these brownies is:

a) Other than in step 1., stir together as little as possible with a wooden spoon (using a beater that incorporates too much air into brownies and one ends up with more of a cake that chewy brownies); and

They are best baked at least a couple hours before wanting to munch on them

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Chewy Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (ensure baking rack is in center of oven)
Lightly grease 9 x 11 baking pan

1. 2 cups butter (melted)
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar

Stir above together well with a spoon

2. Stir in only until lumps are gone ...
1 1/3 cups cocoa powder (unsweeted)

3. Add by stirring ...
4 eggs
3 teaspoons vanilla

4. In separate bowl, stir together with a fork ...
2 cups unsifted flour
3 teaspoons baking powder

4. Add the above dry ingredients by stirring with a wooden spoon only until blended (it should still be a bit 'lumpy' looking)

5. Pour into baking pan and bake approximately 35-40 minutes.

Note: Bake only until it pulls away from sides (top will crack and center will be slightly loose)

6. Place on cooling rack

This post has been edited by Mara: Dec 6 2008, 12:02 PM

Okay, I'm going to try this and report back to you.

I made a batch a few years ago as a wee xmas gift for our local Firefighters/Emergency Response people ... and they loved them enough to ask if they could buy a batch every week. (Simply gave them the recipe as I don't do much baking anymore - gentle smile). I can't take credit for the recipe but do hope you enjoy them as much as we do, Zllo - and I'd love to hear back from you.

Slurp....drool.....!

Airdrops to England involving Fudge necessary stop...........Esher man drooloing and slurping stop.........please send asap stop...........

my brownie recipe

preheat your oven to 350 degrees
grease a 13x9x2 inch baking pan

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
4 eggs
3/4 cup cocoa powder
1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

mix together flour baking powder and salt, set aside

melt butter
stir in sugar and vanilla
add eggs, one at a time make sure to beat well with a spoon after each addition
add cocoa , blend well

add your flour mixture
make sure everything is thoroughly blended

add nuts if desired

bake for about 30 - 35 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from the sides of the pan

now the hardest part
allow to cool completely in the pan on a wire rack

cut and enjoy!!

Okay, I'll do a comparison study and test them out on my neighbors for Christmas.

Just don't leave them in the oven too long as my daughter tends to do

fine i guess i know someone who will not be getting some of the cookies i am making today but in my defense baking has become harder since lil wade thinks he can help

It sounds like lil wade is what you are now mixing and baking. Take extra care with that precious recipe.

i actually made a batch using the recipe i posted before, they did not even last 2 days and they were gone! i only got 1 myself!!

They weren't bad. Could have tried a couple more for comparison purposes

I tried both recipes and I couldn't tell you which I liked better. The first one ended up with more chocolate and less sugar, so it was a bit strong on the chocolate side. The other one quite a bit sweeter. Neither batch seemed to last very long.