Chocolate Brownies

Some years ago, when my first two were small, and the mommy gig was new to me, I realized that my maternal toolbox was missing an essential skill: the making of truly fantabulous brownies. At the time, the internet was in a fledgeling state, all ASCII, no images, but I ran an internet wide contest for The Best Brownies Ever. I got tons of submissions, and for 6 weeks we baked several pans of brownies daily....cakey brownies, chewy brownies, fudgey brownies, every sort and size you can imagine.

My husband, at first ecstatic to return home to our warm and chocolate scented kitchen, soon learned to dread the nightly plate of brownies. "Try them!" we would urge, and judge which was the new best recipe.
Many, many squares of chocolate later, we had our winner. The winning submission was made by Dave Woodall; the recipe was his grandmother's, and we are all fortunate she was the kindly sort of cook who not only shares her recipes, but shares them complete and un-edited, sans strategic omissions and booby-traps...


Today, you can buy those wonderful little One Bite Brownies in the grocery store, and I think they must be based on Dave's grandma's recipe. But nothing beats a pan of these brownies fresh out of the oven, warm and oh so delicious! We love them with good vanilla ice cream.

Grandma Woodall's Brownies

2 squares unsweetened chocolate
1 c. oil, canola or corn
2 c. sugar
3 eggs
1 1/2 c. flour
1 t. baking powder
1 t. salt
1 c. broken nuts (optional)

Mix the flour, baking powder and salt with a whisk.

Just barely melt the chocolate in the oil (in microwave is easiest).

Add all other ingredients in the order shown, taking care that the eggs do not cook in the warmed oil/chocolate mixture, adding flour mixture last.

Pour the completed batter into a greased and floured 9" x 13" pan.
Yes, it has to be that pan size to cook properly!

Bake 350F
30 minutes
Let cool at least 15 minutes before serving.

Optional garnishes:
Press half walnuts into each square before brownies cool.
Drizzle with chocolate glaze...white chocolate looks nice.

Enjoy!