The Needy Chef: Bye Bye Betty Crocker Brownies

My whole life, brownies have been made from a mix. Don't get me wrong, they have been delicious. My sister and I have a ritual where we make the brownie mix and (salmonella be damned), we eat it with a tall glass of milk while watching TV, preferably E!. She even referenced this ritual in her speech at my wedding.

So imagine my delight when I decided a few weeks ago to make brownies from scratch. Sweet lord, what a difference! These brownies were INCREDIBLE. So today on my day off, while watching E! of course (the Saved By the Bell E! True Hollywood Story was on. Jackpot.) I attempted the brownies again.

Pre-heat your oven to 350 and grease an 8x8 inch pan. Living in an apartment with a kitchen that isn't big on space I usually use disposable pans. It saves space and makes clean up so easy. I spray one of these all over with cooking spray

The first thing that you do is melt one stick of butter. You don't need to melt it; you can also use a half cup of vegetable oil but is there anything better than melted butter? Plus, any recipe that start with this is bound to be good:

BTW, that is my cast iron skillet to the left. More on that in later recipes, but to save space that baby lives in my oven and must come out when I need to bake.

Keep the heat low. You want to slowly melt it, being extra careful not to burn. I actually turn the heat of before it is fully melted and swirl it around until its fully melted.

Pour it in a large bowl and add 1 cup of sugar, 2 eggs and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. Mix everything until it looks like this:

Next, add in 1/3 cup cocoa, 1/2 cup flour, 1/4 teaspoon of salt and 1/4 teaspoon baking powder. Use an electric mixer for about 30 seconds on high to beat this together:

Spread the batter into the pan and bake for about 25 minutes. Sometimes I sprinkle in some chocolate chips for a little surprise.

These brownies are so easy to make and taste amazing. Of course the first person I shared this recipe with was my sister!