Brownies Are A Girl's Best Friend

Comfort foods . . . brings to mind sweet treats. Back to basic, home baking. Whenever I need a quick fix for a sweet in our house . . . which is when the last of the treats just started heading down the digestive tract and Bob is pointing to an empty cookie jar or a crumb-free cake pan, I turn to my old, hand-me-down, brownie recipe. Deep Dish Brownies. It is a favorite in our house so it is always a good turn-to when the tears are running down Bob’s face because he hasn’t had sugar for 24 hours.

One Friday morning, was just the time for this old favorite. It was early, the little critters were fed, I had just had my breakfast and I knew we had errands to run, so a good portion of my day would be shot. If I needed to get some baking in, it had better be now. It was 6:30 a.m. and time to fire up the oven. I quickly pulled my Deep Dish Brownie recipe out and in a matter of 10 minutes, the brownies were in the oven. That is what I love about this recipe – it is quick to mix up. I will have to say, though, that it is heavy in the ingredient aisle. I do a double batch which fits in a 9x13 pan, which I use a pyrex high side one (deep dish) because in my regular 9x13 pyrex pans, it will raise so high that it is hard to keep a lid on it without squishing them. I could put this in a jelly-roll pan, but for God’s sake – this is a deep dish recipe, so you want it to be nice and thick, not thin, so I go for the 9x13 deep dish pyrex. (You can also use a metal pan, I just prefer glass.)

It bakes for 45 minutes and that was just enough time for me to be able to get my exercise in, too. So in went the brownies, timer set, and I jumped on the treadmill for a good 45-minute workout. See . . . baking is healthy for you! (Hmmmm . . . a twisted mind is a good thing to have!!!!!!!)

Comfort foods in my house (and mind) come from sometimes digging into my index card recipe box. When pulling out any of these recipes, you will find time-honored, stained recipe cards filled with great recipes and even greater memories. Most of these are the hand-me-downs. Ones I received from my mom, grandmother, aunts, or old friends and other relatives. I have my Grandma Sponem’s Butterscotch Pie or raised doughnuts or frycakes, my mom’s pie crust or brandy slush, an old, old friend’s Buckeyes, my cousin’s wife Karen’s yeast rolls or her scalloped corn. In my recipe files, these go way back, thirty or more years at least but have been tried-and- true recipes for three-quarters to a full century. These are the ones that you can remember by heart without having to look at the recipe. And this brownie recipe is one of those, indeed.

I have added the recipe below, but I always double it to put in a 9x13 pan.

DEEP DISH BROWNIES

3/4 cup butter, melted
1-1/2 cups sugar
1-1/2 tsp. vanilla
3 eggs
3/4 cup flour
1/2 cup cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt

Blend melted butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl. Add eggs, beat well. Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder and salt, gradually adding to egg mixture until well blended. Spread in a buttered/greased 8-inch square pan. Bake at 350 for 40-45 minutes. Cool, and cut into squares.

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Please enjoy! I know I do every time I take a bite and try to savor the moment. It is a moment between me and one of my best friends – we don’t get together too often, so when we do I don’t like to rush it. I want a relaxed conversation between the two of us. Me, I do most of the talking – the conversation goes mostly like this:

"Mmmmm . . .haven’t seen you in awhile."
"Mmmmm . . .why do I wait so long?"
"Mmmmm . . . yes, we have to do this more often."
"Mmmmm . . . you certainly are an evil little thing aren’t you?"
"Mmmmm . . . okay, one more bite and then I have to go."
"Mmmmm . . . until we meet again, old friend."

Parting ways is sometimes hard to do!