There are at least a million brownie recipes out there.  This is my current favorite, based on this one.

Ingredients

• 1 cup + 2 tbsp all-purpose flour
• 1-1/2 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup cocoa powder
• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) butter
• 8oz bittersweet chocolate, broken in small pieces for melting
• 1-1/2 cup mixed chopped nuts

Directions

Preheat oven to 350F.  Butter an 8×8 tin, and line with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, whisk together dry ingredients.  In a small bowl, whisk together eggs and set aside.

In a medium saucepan, melt butter over low heat, stirring occasionally until completely melted.  Add chocolate, and stir until completely melted.  Remove from heat.  Slowly stir in the eggs, then stir in the dry ingredients.  Quickly stir in the chopped nuts.  Spread batter in prepared 8×8 tin, then place in preheated oven.

Bake for 30-40 minutes, until edges have set and the center doesn’t wobble when you shake it.  Let cool to room temperature before cutting, ideally waiting overnight.

Variations

I love variations of this recipe!  Replace some or all of the chopped nuts with chocolate chips, other flavor chips, dried fruit, etc.

Raspberry-sour cream brownies: Decrease the butter to 1/2 cup.  Omit nuts.  Add 1/2 cup sour cream, 2 cups raspberries (fresh or frozen), and 2 tbsp raspberry jam.  Follow above directions, folding in the sour cream, raspberries, and jam after stirring in the dry ingredients.

Cherry brownies: Omit nuts, add 1 cup cherry jam.  Follow above directions.  After spreading batter in prepared tin, gently dollop jam on top of batter, then use a knife to swirl it through.

I started with this recipe, and have essentially no updates.  I had a pint of Blue Bottle’s New Orleans iced coffee, which is milk-based, that was about to go off so I replaced some of the milk with that.  I had some Godiva chocolate liqueur in the back of the pantry, so I added a tablespoon of that.  And I had both Godiva ground chocolate and cocoa powder, so that went in too.  That might sound like a lot of updates, but it was really about what I had on hand.

Ingredients

2/3 cups sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 cup cocoa powder
1/4 cup ground chocolate (optional)
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1/2 cups chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon chocolate liqueur (optional)

Instructions

In a large saucepan, whisk together the dry ingredients, then whisk in the milk.  Over medium-high heat, continue whisking until it just starts to thicken and bubble, about 6-8 minutes.  Remove from heat.  Stir in the chocolate chips, vanilla extract, and chocolate liqueur.

Divide the pudding into individual cups.  If you’re opposed to a thin skin on your pudding (I’m not), put a bit of plastic wrap directly on the pudding.  Refrigerate until cold and set, at least 2 hours.

Serve with whipped cream, sliced strawberries, raspberries, or anything else that sounds good to go with it.  Swoon over how lovely it is.