Mom’s Chewy Brownies

There are some recipes that you just grow up with. You know, those recipes that are scribbled on a wrinkled piece of paper covered in batter. I can’t tell you where this recipe originated. All I know is that my mom has made these brownies for as long as I can remember. They are my favorite. They are soft, chewy, rich, and remind me of those nights when my family is just sitting around, hanging out and my mom decides to whip up a batch. I could probably eat a whole pan.

I have a confession to make about these brownies. Last time I made them, I put black beans in them. Weird, I know. I have heard for a long time that beans can be used in the place of butter in baked goods. I decided to give it a try. So I whipped up my moms delicious brownie recipe and used black beans instead of butter. They were ok, but just not the same. There was something off in the texture and I think it was probably because the original brownie recipe uses melted butter, but I’m not sure. They just weren’t as chewy and soft and chocolaty. I would definitely juts stick with the original recipe. However, you couldn’t taste the black beans at all! No one would have known! So if for some reason, you are out of butter but need a chocolate fix, you could use beans. Rinse the beans well, puree them really well in a blender, and use the same amount of beans as butter called for. But I would highly suggest just sticking to the original recipe. I just thought I’d tell you about my little experiment.

Ingredients:

• 3/4 C. butter (1 1/2 sticks), melted
• 1/2 C. cocoa powder
• 2 C. sugar
• 1 tsp. vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1 1/2 C. flour

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Cream together the butter, sugar,and cocoa powder. Add the vanilla and eggs and mix until combined.

2. Mix in the salt and flour and mix until combined and lumps are gone.

3. Pour into baking dish. The size of dish is up to you depending on how thick you like your brownies. A 9×13 dish should take 25-30 minutes. If you use a smaller dish, they will probably need to cook longer because they will be thicker.

To dress them up for Valentine’s Day, cut out a heart from paper and place it on top of a brownie square and dust with powdered sugar. Remove the paper.

Recipe from ediblexperiments.blogspot.com