Brownies

Prepare yourself.

These are the best brownies ever. And I'm going to mess with them. But first, I'm going to show you the original.

I swear, the poor iPod photo does NOT do this justice. It's all gooey, and warm, and delicious.

These are Grandma Terry brownies, so, my dad's mom's recipe. They are best eaten warm, straight out of the pan. And the trick with these is that you MUST, and I mean it is an absolute MUST, ice these brownies while they are still warm. It's not your typical buttercream icing, but it is absolutely heavenly. These brownies will not disappoint, I promise.

But I have a confession to make. The original way to make these is with the nuts in them, but I prefer them without. I don't generally enjoy my chocolate with nuts. Well, sometimes I do...like chocolate covered almonds, but these brownies, in my opinion, are better without (sorry dad!). I will still eat them with nuts in them, because, who would turn down a brownie? But when I make them, they are sans nuts.

A single batch of these brownies is made in an 8x8 or 9x9 square pan, but a single batch makes a thin brownie. So, if you like thin brownies, then by all means, make a single batch. Or make a double batch, and put it in a 9x13 pan. I enjoy a nice hunk of brownie when I get to eat one, so I generally make a double batch, and put it in an 8x8 square pan. I suggest you do this as well. And of course, if you like a thick layer of icing, double that too. Though, this batch is just a single, apparently I didn't have enough eggs to make a double. Woops!

Someone told me once that brownies aren't supposed to have icing on them. What? That seems weird to me. In my mind, a brownie without icing is just...a slab of...well...brownie I guess, but not real brownie. Fake brownie. Incomplete brownie. Whatever you want to call it, a brownie without icing isn't a brownie!

Grandma Terry's Brownies

Ingredients:
1/2 cup margarine
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1/2 cup flour
pinch of salt
3 tbsp cocoa

Cream the margarine and sugar together, but make sure that you use the right size bowl the first time, so you don't have to dirty another one. Like I did.

Once the margarine and sugar are creamed/fluffed, beat in the eggs.

Mix the flour, salt, and cocoa together, and then mix the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients. Put in an 8x8 dish and bake at 350 degrees for 25-35 minutes. Making sure you test with a toothpick, which will come out clean when they are done. Or a knife. If you don't buy toothpicks....

See the knife hole?

Icing

Ingredients:
1 tbsp margarine or butter
1 cup icing sugar
pinch of salt
3 tbsp cocoa
2-3 tbsp boiling water

Mix all of these ingredients together. The icing shouldn't be too thick. At least mine isn't! Add the water in one tablespoon at a time, so it doesn't get too runny.

And DO NOT FORGET to ice the brownies while warm. If there is one thing you follow to a T in this recipe, it is that. Ice while still warm.

Nomnomnom.

Oh yeah...like my counter?