Stove-Top Brownies

Rich, moist and chewy. Did I say loaded with chocolate? And clean-up is a snap because you use only one saucepan. Sometimes I'm bad. Really bad. I cut up gourmet chocolate bars, such as Dove, to use as the chocolate. Bad? Oh, yea! It's called 'Spank My Taste Buds!' Please, don't stop! Just .... one .... more ... with an ice-cold glass of milk!

When I owned an art studio/gallery, I made pans and pans of these brownies for my Christmas Open House. They were always a hit! So was my Refrigerator Fudge. Store both in a tight-fitted tin in the fridge.

• 2 tablespoons strong coffee, Kahlua, whiskey, brandy or other liqueur of your choice. Or just use water.
• 3/4 cup granulated white sugar
• 1/3 cup unsalted butter (not margarine)
• 1 (11.5 oz.) package semi-sweet chocolate chunks (not morsels) divided
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts
• Powdered sugar for decorating

On a piece of waxed paper (why dirty a bowl?), combine the flour and salt. Mix. Set aside until ready to use.

In a saucepan large enough to accomodate all the ingredients, bring the water, granulated sugar and butter just to a boil over medium heat stirring constantly with a wire whisk. Remove from heat and add one cup of the chocolate chunks and stir until melted and smooth. Let cool for at least 15 minutes.

Add eggs, one at a time, stirring just until blended. Stir in vanilla.

Stir in remaining chocolate chunks and nuts into cooled mixture. Stir flour mixture into chocolate mixture in saucepn. Spread into a lightly greased brownie pan or 8 x 8 in pan.

Bake at 325 degrees from 23-28 minutes. Do not overbake. The surface will puff a bit and be cracked. Cool pan on a wire rack. Do not attempt to cut these until they have cooled completely.

Cut into small squares and dust with powdered sugar.


Note: If not using nuts, add one extra tablespoon flour. Brownies are actually better a bit underbaked than overbaked. I now use a convection oven and set it at around 310-315 F degrees and bake them for 23 minutes. Once cool, I like to refrigerate them.