Mom's Brownies (no mixer needed)

     One of our favorite "go to" recipes in my family is my mother's brownie recipe. When I got married (back in the olden days), my mom made me a steno notebook with some of her favorite and easiest recipes. I was 20 years old and just learning to cook. As you can see, that notebook has seen a lot of kitchen time, but I could never copy the recipe anywhere else. Very early on I decided to double my mom's recipe for a thicker brownie, so make sure you read my recipe and not hers! She liked her brownies very thin.

Ingredients:

2 sticks melted butter

2 cups sugar

4 heaping Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

2 tsp. vanilla

nuts or chocolate chips are optional

    Pre-heat oven to 325 degrees. Melt the butter in a 9 x 13 pan in which you are going to bake the brownies. In the meantime mix the sugar and cocoa powder in a large mixing bowl.

     Pour the melted butter into the sugar and cocoa and mix well. Do not over mix. Leave enough butter in the 9 x 13 pan to grease the pan. Stir in the eggs until well blended, again do not over mix. Stir in the flour and vanilla. At this point you can add a cup or so of nuts or chips or both if you want to. I like nuts in mine, but I was giving these away and you never know who might have an allergy.

Pour into prepared pan.

     The baking time is a little tricky. It depends on how "raw" you like your brownies. I bake mine about 35 minutes, until I can smell them baking and a toothpick comes out clean. Some people really prefer their browine on the uncooked side, so I suggest that at 25 minutes you start watching them closely and checking the center for the texture your family prefers. Easy, homemade and inexpensive to make. Enjoy.

I am joining Michael @ Designs by Gollum for Foodie Friday

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