Brownies Cockaigne

When Joe finished taking Step 3, the last test for his state medical license, on Thursday, I wanted to make a little Congratulations dessert for him. His tradition for all of the different Step exams has been to go out for Mexican and margaritas afterward, so we did that with my parents as well. I love making brownies because I usually have the ingredients on hand, and brownie recipes can vary so much. I decided to try the Joy of Cooking recipe since that's always a good place to start.

The brownies came out wonderfully, perfectly fudgey in the middle but with a crisp top. My mom said these were the best brownies she'd ever had! I added in about a cup of chopped walnuts much to the delight of Joe and my dad. Sometimes I have trouble remembering who likes add-ins and who doesn't, so I was glad they went over so well!

Brownies Cockaigne
source: Joy of Cooking, 75th anniversary edition

Ingredients
1/2 cup butter
4 oz semi-sweet chocolate
4 eggs, room temperature
1/4 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Melt chocolate and butter in double boiler and then cool mixture *If you don't cool the mixture, your brownies will be heavy and dry.

Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy in texture and gradually add sugar and vanilla. Contine beating until well-creamed.

With a few swift strokes, combine the cooled chocolate mixture into the eggs and sugar. *Even if you normally use an electric mixer, do this manually. Before the mixture becomes uniformly colored, fold in the flour, again by hand. Before the flour is uniformly colored, stir the nuts in gently. Bake in a greased 9x13 pan for about 25 minutes. Cut when cool.