brownie therapy

i interrupt my stream of stories from G-town to present you with this awesome, basic, never-fail brownie recipe. i forget even why i was looking a few weeks ago, but i've since made this recipe five times with different incarnations of it each time (marble cheesecake, peanut butter, and mini-muffin brownie bites.)

it's seriously the best brownie recipe i've tried-- even though the toothpick comes out clean, the brownies are still moist (eww) and fudgey after cooling. i think i found the recipe on allrecipes.com or some place like that.

this will definitely be committed to memory and as soon as i get back i will make a batch and freeze it in pieces.

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1/2 c. butter, melted
1 c. sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 heaping c. all-purpose flour
1/3 c. Hershey's cocoa
1/4 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. chopped nuts (opt.)

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease square pan, 9 x 9 x 2 inches. In large mixing bowl blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla. Add eggs, using spoon, beat well.

Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt; gradually blend into egg mixture. Stir in nuts, if desired. Spread into prepared pan. Bake 20 to 25 minutes or until brownies begin to pull away from sides of pan. Cool, frost with Creamy Brownie Frosting, if desired. About 16 brownies.

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for 13 x 9 pan:
¾ c melted butter
1.5 c sugar
1.5 tsp vanilla
3 eggs
¾ + c flour
½ c cocoa powder
3/8 tsp baking powder
3/8 tsp salt

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incarnation options:

peanut butter brownies: add 1/2 c peanut butter to the butter/sugar vanilla mix

cheesecake brownies: beat a soft brick of cream cheese, 1 egg and 1/3 c sugar. drop dollops of this mixture as you pour the batter into the pan. use a chopstick or knife to swirl for the marble effect.