Best, Best, Best Brownies

Brownies have been one of those things that have taken me a very, very long time to perfect. But I found, as with lots of my other recipes, that you have success when you combine traits of things that you like. Brownies are a perfect example. This recipe combines two distinct qualities of two very different types of brownie- tasteless yet wonderfully textured box mixes with flavorful yet usually too dense homemade mixes.

I have also worked on this recipe so it takes just a couple minutes longer than the box mix and only one bowl. A major downfall with a lot of the from scratch recipes is that they take expensive ingredients and require you to melt chocolate, separate eggs, and multiple bowls and tools.

A couple things: for the chocolate, I use those large Hershey Special Dark bars that you buy in the bulk candy aisle. It works great, and you can usually buy them on sale for a buck. Also, if you like nuts or chocolate chunks in your brownie, feel free to add them in. I wouldn't add more of 1 cup of add-ins. So if you wanted chunks and nuts, add 1/2 cup each. Or just 1 cup of nuts or 1 cup chunks. Whatever you like. This recipe is just the brownie base, so you can add what you want.
Also, I find that I like the crust on my brownies better when I bake them in an aluminum cake pan. I've tried glass and stone pans, and I like the aluminum best.

Preheat oven to 350. Line an aluminum 13x9 pan with aluminum foil and spray with non-stick spray.

1/3 cup cocoa powder
2 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
4 tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup hot coffee
1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons canola oil
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla bean paste (or 2 teaspoons extract)
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups all purpose flour

Put cocoa powder, dark chocolate, butter and salt in a large bowl. Pour hot coffee over and whisk until melted. The chocolate won't dissolve all the way into the coffee, no worries. It just needs to melt. Whisk in the oil, eggs, vanilla and sugar. Stir the flour in gently with a rubber spatula until just combined.

Mix in chocolate and/or nuts or whatever else (if you so desire) when you mix in the flour.

Pour brownie batter into your prepped 13x9 pan and bake at 350 for about 30 minutes. You want a toothpick inserted in the middle to come out clean. Oven temps and times can vary so just be sure to check and make sure they're done baking before you take them out.

Allow brownies to cool on a baking rack in the pan for 90 minutes. Run a butter knife around the edge of the pan before taking brownies out. Then turn the brownies upside down onto a cutting board. Cut into desire size with a serrated knife (if you have one, if you don't just be careful) using a sawing motion.

I have no idea where my brownie picture went.. I will have to find it and post it later. Until then, you have to trust me!!