Brownies should be in their own food group.  They do offer a decent amount of protein that is a critical source of energy when hanging out with friends and family relaxing on vacation.

There are probably thousands of brownie recipes each touting theirs as the “best” or “world famous”. Well I do not have a degree in anything culinary and I am no baker but this little “go to recipe” has been a favorite and reflects the things I liked and did not like from the many recipes before her.

Give this a try and feel free to add or edit the options.  Happy baking.

What you need:

• 2 sticks of butter
• 8 ounces of semisweet chocolate or some combination thereof. I used what I had in the cabinet- a combination of semi-sweet and bittersweet.
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 4 eggs
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract (use the good stuff like King Arthur Pure Vanilla Plus)
• 1 cup flour (again, I use King Arthur)

Optional add-ins:  I add a shade less of a ½ cup of salted caramel chips from Hershey.  You can add walnuts, chocolate chips even dried cranberries.  When mixing the dry ingredients, you can add a ½ teaspoon of espresso powder too.

What to do:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan. Then line it with buttered parchment paper. I use binder clips to keep the parchment in place when filling the pan and through the baking process.

Using a double boiler over simmering water melt the butter, chocolate and sugars together. Cool slightly. You can microwave it but not too high, it will scorch the chocolate.

In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs then add/whisk in salt and vanilla. Slowly whisk in the chocolate mixture.

Gently fold in flour just until combined. Add any optional items at this point.

Pour mixed batter into prepared pan. Bake for 30 to 40 minutes. My oven is fast and they were done in 25.  Cool in pan on rack.

Garnish with powdered sugar if desired.  It brings out a crackle appearance when they are done. They are spectacular both slightly warm or cold from the fridge.