I count myself lucky in that I've always made good friends at work. Even at the jobs I hated (namely, the first two I had after college when I lived in Boston), I was blessed to find one or two people I really clicked with.
And the company where I've worked for the last 10 years has been no exception. It was way back in the early days when I was still fairly new and working at the DC office that I met my friend, Mya. Despite that fact that neither of us have lived in DC for many years and she's changed fields for an actual field (she's a farmer now - sorry about the pun, I just couldn't help it...) we are still friends.
Mya is one of those wonderful people who is smart, funny, charming, loyal, unfailing polite, and wants to do what's right. (If you guessed that she's from the Midwest, you're right!) She's also a good cook and would often invite me and my then-boyfriend-now-husband over to her group house for dinner with her housemates and their other friends.
It was at the end of one of these lively meals that I was introduced to these brownies. They made quite an impression on me... Naturally, I asked Mya for her recipe. She seemed almost surprised - in her mind, they were nothing special - just her "cupboard" brownies. But they were everything I was looking for in a brownie - moist, crumb-y, chocolatey and mild enough that I could contemplate eating half a pan of them... (that is a quality I am always looking for in a chocolate cake, too, in case you were wondering.)
She obligingly wrote out her recipe for me on an index card. It is, in fact, wondrously simple. And very quick and easy to make.
Give them a shot sometime. If you prefer something a little more intense, just add some chocolate chunks or chips and/or nuts to the batter.
Here's to old friends. And to brownies!
Cupboard Brownies
Makes a 9"x13" pan
Ingredients
* 1 cup butter, softened
* 2 cups sugar
* 1 1/2 cups flour
* 4 eggs
* 1/2 cup cocoa powder
* 2 tsps pure vanilla extract
* 1/2 tsp salt
Just a note - I recommend using organic everything if at all possible, especially for the butter and eggs (and pasture-raised eggs are way better for all involved if you have access to them.)
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees F and grease the baking pan.
2. Cream the butter and sugar together. Add the flour, cocoa, eggs, salt and vanilla and mix well to combine.
3. Pour the batter out into the prepared baking pan and bake for 40-50 minutes, until a toothpick or fork comes out clean. Serve warm with vanilla ice cream (I'm a real traditionalist on brownies and vanilla ice cream - they just seem made for one another - but you should, of course, use whatever flavor floats your boat.)
You might also like:
- Chocolate Raspberry Tart
- Chocolate Sour Cream Bundt Cake
- Dark Chocolate "B-Cup"Cakes
- Homemade Nutella (a.k.a. Chocolate-Hazelnut Spread)
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