LAST MINUTE BROWNIES

Eli came home from a long day at school and after school activities and says, "oh Mom, we need cupcakes for tomorrow's class party".  It was 7:30p.m. and as I was putting the last dish away from dinner, I looked at him as if he had said instead, "tomorrow I am going to fly to the moon".

I was so exhausted and all I wanted to do was put on my p.j.'s, shut my bedroom door and watch some horrible reality T.V.  Instead of doing what I really wanted to do, I started shuffling through some of my new cookbooks.  There was no way I was going to make cupcakes.  Cupcakes, on a good day, are easy enough.  However, I was not about to make the cupcakes, create a frosting and decorate.  I needed something much easier than that.

I decided on a brownie recipe.  One of the things I love most about brownies is that they do not require a lot of gadgets.  In general, brownies consist of butter and really good bittersweet chocolate that gets melted over a pan of simmering water, sugar, eggs, vanilla and dry ingredients (flour, b.soda or b. powder, salt, etc).  

I liked the Chocolate Chunk Brownie recipe in The All American Cookie Book (pg.130).  I had everything I needed in the house and they didn't require me to take out my Kitchen Aid mixer.  All can be done with a large mixing bowl, a whisk and a wooden spoon.  My kind of quick and easy solution when I wasn't truly up for the challenge.

The recipe called for walnuts, yet I am not a huge walnut fan.  I substituted toasted pecans.  I doubled the recipe (as Eli has 31 kids in his class) and made them in a 9 x 13" metal William Sonoma baking pan.  I have replaced all of my metal pans with this line of Goldtouch pans and I LOVE them.  My friend, Nancy, bought me my first one a while back and I have been hooked ever since.  

This is a really good brownie recipe.  Cakey, yet still slightly fudgy.  It is kind of the perfect base for any kind of brownie recipe.  I am going to make these again and substitute the chocolate chunks and nuts for some different winning combos.  Such as dried cherries and almonds, or even some of my dried orange peels, hazelnuts and some orange extract.  We shall wait and see what I come up with.