Brownies

  

So yesterday my mom, sister and the girls and I headed over to my aunts house for a "cousins dinner". I have four girl cousins on my dads side and my one cousin and I have three daughters in total together so there are a lot of girls and we have always gotten together for our little dinners and this time we decided to include our moms! So when we have these get togethers we all bring a different food and just eat and talk a lot! It's always so much fun so this time I decided to make brownies! And of course I couldn't just make one type of brownie I had to make four! So I went to Pinterest to find a good brownie recipe and settled on this one, http://lifemadesimplebakes.com/2014/06/thick-chewy-better-boxed-brownies/ they really are better than boxed brownies! But since I was making a bunch of different kinds I changed the recipe a bit. So I'll show how I made them and then show the variations for each flavour! 

Ingredients 

1/2 cup flour

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 1/4 cup sugar

1/2 cup unsalted butter

2 cold eggs

1/8 tsp baking soda 

1 tbsp cornstarch 

1/4 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions

Pre-heat oven to 325. Put butter and sugar in a microwaveable bowl and heat on high for a minute and fifteen seconds. Allow to cool on counter and once cooled add cocoa powder and vanilla extract. Mix until well combined and then transfer mixture to the bowl of a stand mixer. Turn the mixer on low speed and add the eggs one at a time. In a separate bowl whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and cornstarch. Gradually add the flour mixture to the mixer while it mixes on low speed. Once combined add whatever extras you want and then pour the batter into a 8x8 parchment lined pan. Bake at 325 for 25-30 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow brownies to cool for 20-30 minutes before cutting into them and enjoy! 

Now on the other recipe it calls for more butter and also for chocolate chips and chopped chocolate pieces. When I made these brownies I was so concerned about the butter being 1 stick that I forgot about the extra 3 tablespoons which actually didn't make a difference so I figured if I don't need all that butter then fine. And for the chocolate, since I was making different kinds of brownies I chose not to add the chocolate but if you love chocolate then go for it! 

The four different kinds I chose to make were peanut m&m, skor, salted caramel and red velvet cheesecake. My favourite was the skor but that's because I'm a sucker for those chocolate bars! But they were all good. So first I'll explain how to make the basic recipe and then I'll add in the different variations. 

First pre-heat the oven to 325. 

Melt the butter and sugar in the microwave for 1 minute and 15 seconds. Then mix it together until completely combined and set aside to cool for about 5 minutes. 

Once the butter mixture has cooled add the vanilla and cocoa powder and mix. 

Then transfer the mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer. Turn the speed to low and add the eggs one at a time as it mixes.

In a separate bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, salt and baking soda. Whisk together to mix.

Then while the stand mixer is still on low speed, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter mixture. 

Continue mixing until there is no more white spots and the batter is well combined.

At this point if you are making plain brownies you can add chocolate chips, but since I was making my different flavours I had different things that I needed to add in. Since my first batch was the peanut m&ms I just added them straight to the batter like you would with chocolate chips. Once you have added whatever you wish take a 8x8 pan lined with parchment paper (you can use tin foil but I found that the parchment paper worked a lot better. But with the parchment paper it stays in place in the pan a lot easier if you run it under water before hand.) Pour the batter into the pan and smooth out the top. 

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 25-30 minutes. Remove and place on a wire rack when done and let cool. Cut into squares and enjoy! 

I'll post the variations of the brownies in another post! Hope you all enjoy this recipe, it really is the best I've had!