Classic Brownies

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Anyone else prefer brownie batter over cookie dough? Don’t get me wrong, I really love some good fresh cookie dough. In fact, that’s how I gained nearly 50 pounds in college. I wasn’t thriving in the college atmosphere and I would get an entire container of cookie dough and eat it on my own. Not in one sitting but over the course of probably a week. It’s an absolute miracle I never got salmonella poisoning. Brownie batter is the real killer though. I could eat it straight by the spoonful and not even bake the pan at all. I’m sure it’s horrible for me but I believe the old saying went “you only live once.” This week I made this classic brownies recipe and, yes, I ate some of the batter and it was incredible. 

Boxed Brownies

Boxed brownie mixes are so simple and super easy to use. To be honest, homemade brownies will take you longer and will probably be more expensive to make. This is mostly because they use true chocolate chunks, bars, or chips. If you are concerned about your food and choosing to cook from scratch your ingredients will likely be higher quality than what you will get in a boxed mix as well. This will likely also increase the cost slightly. I mean, it’s still probably less than $5 per batch but you can get a brownie mix for around $1.50 at our local dollar store. 

There are also some concerning ingredients in a boxed mix. For one, the first ingredient is usually sugar. We prefer organic cane sugar because if we are going to eat sweets we want to make sure they are at least the best ingredients we can get. The mix also typically contains things like palm oil, corn syrup, and canola oil. These oils tend to be high in saturated fat which is not good for your cardiovascular help. In addition to that, many ask you to add more oil to your mix, but since you get to choose that I will assume you are using a higher quality oil that is low in saturated fat. The one other alarming thing I will mention here is that most boxed mixes typically include “artificial flavor.” This is basically a blanket term that could include just about anything under the sun. Just those words alone lead me to believe that the homemade recipe is worth it. 

The Original Recipe

I have been on the hunt for just a classic brownie recipe for awhile. I had tried some before but they just did not hit the spot. This one finally made the cut! Trust me when I say, make the 9×13 pan of it. You will not regret it!

The original recipe comes from a cookbook that was published by the St. Sebastian Alter Society. Yup, another one of those church cookbooks where people send in their recipes and they raise money for the church. This one was submitted by Lorie Baird. If you are Lorie or know Lorie thank her for giving us this recipe. She probably doesn’t remember it even, but our lives are a little better because she decided to submit this recipe all those years ago. 

Classic Brownies Ingredients

• 1 (6oz) pkg chocolate chips
• ⅓ cup shortening
• ½ cup sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla
• ½ cup flour
• ½ tsp baking powder
• ¼ tsp salt
• ½ cup nuts (optional)

Directions

Put the chocolate chips and the shortening in a saucepan and place on low heat; stir until melted. Remove and add sugar; mix. Add eggs, one at a time, and beat after each. Stir in vanilla. Add flour, baking powder and salt. Add nuts if desired.

Put in an 8×8 inch (greased) pan and bake at 375 for 30 minutes. Double the recipe and it fits in a 9×13 pan. 

Tips & Tricks

You can absolutely melt your chocolate chips in your microwave. Start with 1 minute and stir. Then continue microwaving 10 sec and stirring until they are smooth. This will make it so that you can still have a one bowl recipe. Otherwise you will need a pan and a bowl which isn’t horrible but we’re all about reducing your workload! 

The original directions do not tell you to grease the pan. I took them very literally and did not grease my pan the first time. This was a mistake. Most of it came off but the edges stuck like crazy. I include greased in my directions because I don’t want you to get all the way through and finally read my tips & tricks only to find out you didn’t grease the pan. 

You can still get creative here. I added some peanut butter chips in place of my chocolate chips and it was super delicious! You could also add in more chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, chocolate chunks, nuts, fruit, etc at the end before you pour it into the pan. Get creative, have fun!

We didn’t frost them but you certainly could! I love frosting but I also just love a simple dusting of powdered sugar. 

Lastly, the amount of eggs matters. If you want more cake-like eggs add another egg. If you want more fudge-like brownies you can leave an egg out. These ones, in my opinion, have a more fudge-like texture. 

In Summary: Classic Brownies

This is just a timeless, good ol’ fashioned classic brownies recipe. It’s a great classic treat by itself, with frosting, or even with a scoop of ice cream on top! Fancy brownies, like my cordial cherry brownies, are wonderful but if you just need a simple recipe look no further. What is your favorite brownie topping?

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