Alton's Brownies

Friday night (at the freeeezing football game!) I was talking to someone about treats to bring to a shower this week and realized I'd only made homemade brownies one time before. They weren't as good as the boxed ones!! She said I definitely needed to try a new recipe since they are so much better.

I hardly ever make brownies, but had to after that conversation. I decided to try Alton Brown's, since it was something I saw on one of his episodes. We have most of the Good Eats series at school and occasionally watch an episode in class and I really love his style of explaining everything. He suggests to line the pan with parchment so you can remove them from the pan immediately after removing them from the oven so they stop cooking and they're more fudgy. I didn't have any parchment at home (all at school, oops!) so I just cooled them on a cooling rack and pulled them a little before they were actually done.

These are like eating fudge! Look how thick they are. I think if I make them again, I would make them in a 9x13 because I like them to be thinner. The recipe says it makes 9 or 12, but I think it makes more like 18 because you only need a tiny bite because they are super rich. My friend and I stayed in last night to watch football and eat grilled cheese and tomato soup with our HEATER on (weird, Oct. 10!!) and finished off with these. Yum!

Cocoa Brownies

from Alton Brown

soft butter for greasing the pan (I just sprayed mine)

flour for dusting the pan

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar, sifted

1 cup brown sugar, sifted

8 oz. melted butter (yep, 2 sticks. woah!!)

1 1/4 cups cocoa, sifted

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 300. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.

Beat eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add the rest of the ingredients and mix to combine.

Pour the batter into the pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the toothpick method. This is where Alton's episode says to remove them to cool on a wire rack if you used parchment paper and can pull them out. Otherwise, cool, cut, and eat. Oddly enough, in his episode he also suggests to cut them immediately. I would veto that idea!!

Also, this week was spirit week and we have the best group of freshmen for our advocacy class. There was a door decorating contest, and while other classes used stuffed animals and things like that, our kids came up with everything homemade. They were pretty proud of it and we were proud of them! Hope they stay like this:)