Adventures in Baking: The BEST Brownies EVER

As many great discoveries come about, I found the secret to the best brownies by mistake!  I doubled my brownie recipe and was trying to adjust the baking time.  Based on the old adage, if you don't succeed at first... well I tried, tried and tried again.  In the end I had the most wonderful crispy-on-the-outside-smushy-yummy-goodness-on-the-inside brownies. 


The secret: Triple baking them.  Seriously!

Ingredients

1/2 cup melted butter (can use 1/4C melted butter & 1/4C vegetable oil if they're too buttery for you)

1 cup white sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 eggs

1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I make mine a heaping 1/3 cup)

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)

1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x9 inch baking pan.

2.  In a medium bowl, mix together the oil, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in eggs.

3.  Combine flour, cocoa, baking powder, and salt; gradually stir into the egg mixture until well blended. Stir in walnuts, if desired.
4.  Spread the batter evenly into the prepared pan.

Original instructions:  Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the brownie begins to pull away from edges of pan. Let cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares.

My instructions:

Baking round 1 - bake for 1/2 of the recommended time.  Pull the brownies out, and let them cool (appr. 15 min).
Baking round 2 - bake for 1/3 of the recommended time.  Pull the brownies out, and let them cool (appr. 15 min).
Baking round 3 - bake for 1/3 of the recommended time.  All done.

!Disclaimer!:  Your baking times may vary as each oven is different.  To make sure you get the right consistency, you can cut out a small piece once they've cooled after each time in the oven.  This will let you see and feel if they need to go in again and how much time they might need.  They should be super moist and seem slightly undercooked on the inside.

Enjoy!