Chocolate Brownies

This is a recipe I've grown up with: Chocolate Brownies. It's easy to make and super tasty!
For several years during my childhood I was part of the Australian Children's Choir.
The choir created many fond memories and friendships. The thing that everyone who used to be in choir remembers is the choir camps. We'd go away for the weekend, stay up late, get up too early, sing lots and eat as many chocolate brownies as we could.
My sister and I would go home raving about these so much that mum ended up asking for the recipe! That being said, mum ended up modifying the recipe, making it way better!
So here is the recipe for you! For all the ACC people, don't forget to sing grace!

INGREDIENTS:

¾ cup melted butter

1 ½ cup caster sugar

1 ½ teaspoon vanilla essence**

3 eggs

¾ cup flour

½ cup cocoa

½ teaspoon baking powder

**If you are using vanilla extract do not use this much, vanilla extract is much stronger. At most you can use half the amount.

As usual, get all the ingredients and equipment ready first.

Using a whisk mix the melted butter, caster sugar and vanilla essence into a large bowl. Add the eggs and mix until it looks like this:

It tastes better than it looks.

Combine the flour, cocoa and baking powder into a separate bowl. It's a good idea to sift all these ingredients as once you add it to the egg mixture it can get quite lumpy. Gradually add the flour mix into the egg mixture using a wooden spoon. It's very important to use a wooden spoon or it just won't turn out the same!

Mixing

Keep adding the flour and mix until smooth. Grab a slice tray and either grease or line with baking paper. I prefer to grease it. Do not forget! This is one of the hardest mixtures to get out of a slice tray! Also, make sure not to fill the tray over halfway. The baking soda will make the mixture rise a fair bit. The level in the tray below was a bit too high, it ended up overflowing a bit!

Starting to look good now!

Put the tray into the oven at 180°C for 40-45 minutes.

I made a double batch, so I had the excuse to have this much left over out of the bowl to eat.. I love raw cake and slice mixes! Yum!

Always keep an eye on your cooking... Although I'm training to be a Volunteer Firefighter, there is no way I would want one to ruin my cooking! It’s also a good idea to get a stick thing to poke into your batch to make sure it’s cooked all the way through. The stick pokey thing (I have no idea of the proper name for it) should come out clean. 

It's also important to know your oven! The house we’re in at the moment has a gas oven, when I’ve only worked with electric ovens before, and the cooking time is definitely different. 

Anyway, it should come out looking like this:

While you may want to bury your face in it straight away, remember it's very hot when it comes out of the oven.. I got a burnt tongue from this batch! *facepalm*

So wait until it cools, take it gently out of the tray and cut into slices. It can be served with icing sugar dusted on the top, cream, whipped cream, icecream or plain! All taste amazing!

Here is the finished product:

They only lasted about one second after this photo.

Have a go at making these super easy and tasty brownies. If you were in the ACC and you remember these, enjoy the taste of chocolate brownies and nostalgia! Let me know how you go!

Happy Cooking!

Naé Danielle..