Photo courtesy of freedigitalphotos.net where Stuart Miles generously shares his lovely work.
I take my chocolate very seriously and have done so from an early age. When I was in the fourth grade I wrote a letter to the Hershey’s Chocolate folks to express my desire for a year round peanut butter chocolate fix as generous as the peanut butter egg that appears briefly around easter time. The response was an envelope stuffed with Hershey’s recipes, as if to say “shut up and make your own damn treats kid.” They couldn’t be bothered to write a reply. Most of the recipes hit the trash but one that still carries on is their brownie recipe with homemade frosting. Chewy, rich, buttery deliciousness! So good, you almost can’t stand it. I wonder what Olive’s favorite recipe is going to be…
What’s your favorite recipe?
Here’s mine:
HERSHEY’S BEST BROWNIES (with a few embellishments)
Ingredients
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine, melted (*you only live once, go for the real deal. You won’t be sorry with real butter and besides, baking brownies isn’t the time to go on a health kick…start that nonsense tomorrow).
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Directions
Heat oven to 350F. Grease 9-inch square baking pan using FAT (see previous post for further thoughts on the word FAT and it’s use in recipes) or nonstick spray. Whichever you fancy.
Stir together butter, sugar and vanilla in bowl. Add eggs; beat well with spoon. Stir together flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually add to egg mixture, beating until well blended. Stir in nuts if your whim so commands. Spread batter evenly in prepared pan.
Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool completely in pan on wire rack. Prepare CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING; spread over brownies. Cut into squares. About 16 brownies.
CREAMY BROWNIE FROSTING
3 tablespoons butter or margarine, softened (see above note* regarding this brief existence and why you should be eating butter)
3 tablespoons HERSHEY’S Cocoa
1 tablespoon light corn syrup or honey
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup powdered sugar
1 to 2 tablespoons milk
Beat butter, cocoa, corn syrup and vanilla in small bowl until blended. Add powdered sugar and milk; beat to spreading consistency. Greedily devour the entire batch within 24 hours; attempting to restrain yourself from caving to this powerful urge is futile and may result in fits of rage, insomnia and alcoholism. With that said, one serving=16 brownies. Just trust me on this and ENJOY!!!
