Wednesday, December 17, 2014

Fudge Brownie Gift

Christmas is the best time to make, bake and give brownies as a special homemade gift.  This recipe for chocolate fudge brownies with chopped pecans makes such a mouth-watering bite, it's almost a sin.

What makes this recipe special is how deliciously dense with rich chocolate it is.  It's different that the cake type that's more flaky.  This is the real deal.

Oh So Yummy Chocolate Fudgie Fudgie Brownies

14 tablespoons of butter
1/2 cup of unsweetened cocoa
1 1/4 cups of sugar
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/2 cup of flour
1 pinch of salt
1 cup of pecans - chopped

Place the oven rack in the middle of the oven. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 inch by 8 inch by 2 inch pan with tin foil. Spray foil with cooking spray.

Cut butter into pieces. Place the butter into a large microwave safe bowl and melt it in microwave. With a whisk, blend in unsweetened cocoa. Add sugar and mix well.

In another bowl lightly beat together eggs and vanilla extract. Add egg mixture to the cocoa mixture and blend together.  Mix in flour and salt.  Fold in walnuts.

Pour into prepared pan and bake for 30-35 minutes. To test for doneness insert a wood toothpick into center of brownie dish; it should have some moist crumbs attached to it. Do not over bake.

Remove brownie dish from oven, cool completely on a wire rack. Flip brownies onto cutting board to cut.

Cuts into 8 squares.  Serve warm with scoop of vanilla ice cream, hot fudge sauce; top with whipped cream, maraschino cherries and sprinkles of nuts.

Wrap in plastic wrap, store in an air tight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator. These brownies also freeze beautifully! After cutting into squares, freeze in individual sandwich freezer bags.

Brownies make an awesome gift.  Simply wrap 2 or 3 cut squares with cellophane and tie with festive bow; or stack in glass jar and add your own personalized label and ribbon.

That's what's on my mind today. Are you Being Grand? Follow @AlexandriaMarx on Twitter, or Like this post on Facebook. Happy thoughts!