I love to bake. I don’t know when I first realized that I love to bake. I’ve been baking since I was a teenager, and I’ve been watching my mom bake since I was old enough to remember. My mom loves to bake, and I used to love to comb through her hundreds (thousands?) of recipes and just read them (yes, I am that dork that loves to read cookbooks). My favorite recipes were ones that were torn out of magazines, most of them old and yellowed with age. But it doesn’t matter how old a recipe is – a good recipe is a good recipe.
Although I do love to bake, I don’t love labor-intensive recipes. I’m always looking for the end result (because, did I mention? I also love to eat) and that end result needs to be done quickly. One of my favorite easy recipes is brownies. When I am hungry and we don’t have any chocolate in the house (which, unfortunately, has become a frequent occurence these days), I can whip up a batch of these brownies in less than an hour. I don’t even have to pull out my stand mixer, because I can mix these up with my hand mixer. And there is hardly any cleanup. These can be mixed and ready to put in the oven by the time it’s done preheating.
Now, if you are looking for thick, chewy brownies, these are not for you. They come out sort of flat, maybe an inch high. But the taste is to die for – chocolatey without being too rich. If I want to make them super special, I put orange icing on top – what a great combination.
I made a batch of these the other night (right before dinner, so that we had nice, warm brownies for dessert), and they were gone in less than two days. That is the only thing wrong with this recipe, it doesn’t make enough!
2 squares unsweetened chocolate
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
2 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla
½ cup sifted all-purpose flour
⅛ tsp. salt
¾ cup chopped walnuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350. Melt chocolate and butter in a small saucepan over low heat, cool.
Beat eggs in small bowl with electric mixer, gradually beat in sugar until mixture is fluffy and thick. Stir in chocolate mixture and vanilla. Fold in flour and salt until well blended. Stir in walnuts. Spread evenly in an 8x8x2 greased baking pan. Bake 30 minutes, or until shiny and firm on top.
⅓ cup butter, softened
1 tsp. grated orange rind
2 cups confectioner’s sugar
1 to 2 tbsp. orange juice
Beat butter and orange rind in a small bowl until creamy. Gradually beat in confectioner’s sugar alternately with enough of the orange juice to make it spreadable.
