okay, it's 25 minutes and I'm back...

and ONE glass of milk for a 9X13 pan of brownies? Don't put the carton back in the fridge, we're using it all...

I've never made brownies from scratch before.
I think I'll do that this summer when I'm home. :)

Thanks for the recipe, plinth!
What title should I give it? Plinth's Brownie's? Plinth's Famous Brownies? Plinth's Great Great Grandmother's Famous (adjective here) Brownies? Think of one.

And yes, it matters (to me at least).

I made brownies a few nights ago. I felt as though the fancy-schmatzy NYT brownies somewhat failed me, so I went back to reliable Fannie Farmer. They were good. (Comparing recipes -- FF has more chocolate (6 oz.), more butter (1 1/2 sticks), more sugar (2 3/4 c.), and a little more flour (1 1/2 c.).)

Tonight I made chocolate bread pudding (did I mention my sweet tooth issue?). Oh and I boiled a chicken and have huge amounts of broth cooling in the fridge. And what else? Broiled some steak that was sitting in the fridge and needing cooking or freezing. Washed a bunch of dishes. Made a big stack dirty dishes.

Here's a recipe for almost fat-free brownies.

4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/2 cup prune puree
3 large egg whites
1 cup sugar
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 cup walnuts, chopped


1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray; set aside. Cut chocolate into pieces and place in heat-proof bowl.
3. Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. If you don't have one, put it in a heat-proof bowl and set the bowl in a pan containing 1" simmering water, on a low heat.
4. Sir occasionally until chocolate is just melted.
5. Remove from heat. in mixer bowl combine all ingredients except flour and walnuts, beat to blend thoroughly.
6. Mix in flour.
7. Spread batter in prepared pan and sprinkle with walnuts.
8. Bake about 30 minutes until springy to the touch about 2 inches around edges.
9. Cool on rack.
10. Cut into squares.

NOTE; can substitute jarred baby food prunes (approx 2 2/12 oz jars)

And how about this for the easiest brownie recipe ever.

1 packet of brownie mix
1 can solid pack pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling, just pumpkin)

Mix together. It won't look wet enough but it will be. The mixture will be very thick and you will be tempted to add in other things to make the batter smoother. DO NOT DO THIS AS IT WILL RUIN EVERYTHING!

Bake at 350 for about 30 mins or until they look done.

Cool. Eat. Enjoy.

Diane and I made these at Christmas to give to a friend of ours who's vegan. She loved them.

You can also use the same trick to make muffins.

1 box devil’s food cake mix
1 can solid pack pumpkin (15 oz.)

Directions:
Mix the two ingredients together. Don't add anything else that may be mentioned on the box, such as eggs, oil, or water. Place batter into muffin tins (or mini muffin tins) lined with paper cups, or sprayed with non-stick spray. Bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes. Makes 12 regular or 36 mini muffins.

I stand by this recipe, which I got from the NYT a couple of weeks ago. Best brownies ever, and, wrapped in platic wrap and refrigerated, they were still good 10 days later. I think it's because there's almost no flour to go stale:

2 sticks (16 tablespoons) butter, more for pan and parchment paper
8 ounces bittersweet chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger)
4 eggs
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup flour

1. Butter a 13-by-9-inch baking pan and line with buttered parchment paper. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt butter and chocolate together. Cool slightly. In a large bowl or mixer, whisk eggs. Whisk in salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in chocolate mixture. Fold in flour just until combined. Pour batter into prepared pan. If using whole walnuts, arrange on top of batter. Bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until shiny and beginning to crack on top. Cool in pan on rack.

Yield: 15 large or 24 small brownies.