The aroma of these brownies wafted out from the oven tonight as they baked while we ate dinner, causing much anticipation in Indira and Noor. And as it turned out, the brownies – my first-ever attempt at making this dessert at home, though I’ve thought of doing it on and off ever since I saw Erin make a most delicious lot of them in her first home in Valbonne almost 13 years ago – are a respectable first effort, even though I say so myself !
But then, Indira has asked for so long that I make brownies at home, I think she was going to be pleased with these no matter what. So it was no surprise when she said – “Oh these are awesome !!”. Sleepy Noor’s response was more measured, but she did say, “now you should make these often”. So that’s two happy customers
then 
This is a simple recipe and I fortunately had everything at home that we need to make the brownies. So putting the mix together was quite easy and quick especially as the girls do so much of the process in all the cooking we do together these days. I got the recipe here, and substituted butter for vegetable oil as suggested, and whole wheat flour for all-purpose. I also made some changes to suit the new oven, such as baking the mix at 155degreesC – though the baking time turned out to be the 20 minutes mentioned in the original recipe. Here’s my version of it -
1/2 cup melted butter
1 cup white sugar (though I intend to use less next time; these were a tad too sweet)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt (I skipped this because I haven’t yet found a reasonably priced brand of unsalted butter since I moved back so I buy the salted variety)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
In a bowl, mix together the butter, sugar, and vanilla. Beat in the eggs. Combine the flour, cocoa, and baking powder, then gradually stir into the egg mixture until everything is well blended. Stir in the walnuts and the vanilla extract. Now pour the batter into the pan.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the brownie cake begins to pull away from edges of pan. Allow it to cool before cutting into squares.
Encouraged by the decent results tonight, I am now planning to try out these two other recipes once I’ve bought dark chocolate -
http://www.guardian.co.uk/lifeandstyle/wordofmouth/2010/sep/09/how-to-make-perfect-brownies
