Fudge Brownies

You may remember that my oven croaked the first part of December. In all my wisdom, I decided to challenge myself and see how long I could go without the need of an oven and did fairly well... except I was really missing warm, gooey, fresh from the oven brownies. A lot. I'm pretty picky about desserts; I don't eat milk chocolate if I can help it and lots of brownies are way too sweet for me. I like a chewy, fudgy, rich brownie that isn't sugary sweet. Many of the storebought brownies don't fit the bill - especially since they often smother them in icing! So, when I finally caved and had the repairman come (just to learn the repair was too costly to bother with and we decided to just replace the oven) I got very excited at the possibility of baking some brownies again soon!

We ordered our new stove on Sunday night and Tuesday got the call it was ready. Thanks to my dad's help in getting it to the house and set up, I had a working oven by Tuesday night. Here is my new favorite appliance in the house (step aside, Keurig):

Some friends invited us over for dinner Friday night and I decided to bring brownies. That way, I would at least have the possibility of not devouring the entire 9x13 pan on my own. I looked online for a new recipe to try. I really don't like to bake so it needed to be something that took very little measuring, not too many dishes, and stuff I already had on hand. This recipe, from AllRecipes.com, fit the bill. It is VERY good. All things I like in a brownie: moist, not too sweet, nothing milk about it, fudgy, and rich. Everyone at dinner gave them two thumbs up. They are easy to whip up and you likely have all the ingredients already on hand. If I were making them for myself, I'd add nuts but since Jason really hates nuts in his brownies (crazy man!) I left them out.

I usually have a box mix in my cabinet, too, so I don't hate on boxed mixes but this honestly was just as easy as a box mix, a LOT cheaper, and tastier. Try them and see how they rank with your favorite brownies!

Fudge Brownies
1 cup butter, melted
3 cups white sugar (I used a bit less - some reviews used a lot less)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used mini ones I had in my freezer)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9x13 baking dish.

Combine the melted butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each, until thoroughly blended.

Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the sugar mixture until blended. Stir in the chocolate morsels. Spread the batter evenly into the prepared baking dish.

Bake in preheated oven until an inserted toothpick comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove, and cool pan on wire rack before cutting.

Original recipe