2017 Cookbook Challenge Week 9 - Fudge Brownies
When I first started this cookbook challenge my goal was to make things I've never made before but to also use as many of my cookbooks as possible. This week's chosen cookbook is one that my sisters and I put together a few years ago. It contains primarily Christmas recipes we always make and I have made most of the recipes in this book, so finding one I haven't made was a bit of a challenge. When we were gathering recipes for the book, my Aunt Mary gave us the recipe for her brownies. She often brings these brownies to family gatherings and are delicious. I've certainly made brownies before, but have never made this particular recipe so figured they would fit right in with my cookbook challenge.
This recipe has two parts. The first is the brownies themselves and the second part is the chocolate frosting. The brownie part has pretty standard ingredients, but a bit more butter than recipes that I've used in the past. The resulting batter was really, really thick and a bit too much for my vintage Sunbeam Mixmaster to handle. The frosting recipe is cooked on the stovetop and then poured over the warm brownies when they come out of the oven. The frosting is very dense and rich, similar to fudge.
The brownies were very chocolatey and moist. The center was bit more gooey than they should have been, but that was due to a oven temperature error on my part, so they didn't cook they way they were supposed to. I baked these in a 9 x 9 baking pan, but I think if I were to make them again I would use a slightly larger pan. The smaller pan I used didn't leave much room to pour the frosting once they had baked, so with a larger pan I would have room for thicker frosting, and who doesn't like that. We ate the brownies on their own and as part of an ice cream sundaes. They were excellent both ways.
Cookbook: "The Heitkamp Family Cookbook", published 2014
Recipe: Aunt Mary's Brownies
Difficulty: There are two parts to this recipe, but both are pretty easy.
Alterations: None
Results: Excellent
Make Again: Yes