Basically snagged from the old Time-Life “The Good Cook” series, this is a pretty basic brownie recipe. I did the mixing by hand because it was late and I didn’t want to wake anyone, and the original instructions warn against over mixing after you add the flour. Also cut the recipe in half for a single 9”x9” pan.

As they were fairly thin, they stayed fairly ‘fudgy’, there isn’t any leavening here other than what bubbles you can induce when beating the eggs, but the original recipe suggests that if you fill the pan higher, (make the whole recipe) it results in a more cake like texture.

• 4 tbsp butter
• 2 oz chocolate (I used a nice 85% dark, but unsweetened baking is okay.)
• 2 eggs
• Pinch of salt.
• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Optionally, nuts. Or whatever chunky bits.

1. Butter a 9”x9” pan
2. Set oven to 350° F
3. Melt the butter and chocolate in a small pot over a low heat. take it off the heat before the chocolate completely melts and let the residual heat melt the last of it as the mixture cools. You’ll want it room temperature before using it later. (You don’t want it to cook the eggs.
4. Beat eggs and salt until the eggs are quite foamy.
5. Add the vanilla and beat it in.
6. Start adding the sugar a bit at a time, in thirds or fourths. Beating continuously. It will start to thicken considerably with the sugar. it should be a pretty pale and thick foam before you add the chocolate.
7. Pour in the now room temperature chocolate and fold in with a spatula. Do not stir long, don’t yet worry about full incorporation. Mostly is what you’re aiming for here
8. Sift in the flour and fold it in until, like previous, it is mostly incorporated .
9. Add any nuts or chunks now, and stir them in,
10. Pour into pan, place on middle shelf of oven
11. bake for roughly 25 minutes

I would suggest checking with a toothpick, but since brownies are inherently gooey, that might not give you the information you are looking for…