LAURA LEE ALICE
COOKS
®
This recipe honors of my great aunt Sally. I don't remember very much about
her, but I do know that she loved chocolate. And she cooked the only bear meat I
have ever eaten (once). And yes, it did taste like chicken! Like most women in my
past, she cooked what was hunted, raised, or sometimes given. Very little ever
went to waste.
Tips
• It's important to preheat the oven for this recipe.
• I added ½ cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional) to this recipe.
(Because I like chocolate too!)
• Nuts are optional of course.
• These are good drizzled with caramel!
• I like to drizzle chocolate over the tops and then sprinkle with flaky sea salt.
Ingredients Makes 28 (2-inch) brownies
• 1 cup butter, room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 6 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and divided (Save 2 ounces for topping)
• 1 cup pecans or walnuts, chopped (optional)
• 1½ tsp vanilla (see our recipe here)
Preheat oven to 325°F.
You will need a greased 9-x-14 baking dish or pan.
Instructions
1. Beat the butter and sugar together; add eggs, one at a time,
beating well after each one.
2. Add flour and 4 ounces of chocolate beat until well blended. Stir
in nuts and vanilla.
3. Scoop into the prepared pan; smooth top with a spatula. Bake for
30 to 35 minutes. Cool in pan; add topping of your choice (below).
Topping 1
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• 4 Tbsp butter, softened
• Cream
• 2 oz melted chocolate (from recipe above)
1. Mix the butter and sugar together; add cream, little by little, while
beating until it's the consistency for spreading.
2. Spread on top of brownies; drizzle the 2 ounces of saved melted
chocolate into swirls or zigzags, up to you. When icing is set, cut
into 2-inch squares. Store, after cooling, in an airtight container.
Topping 2
• 2 Tbsp butter, softened
• 2 cups powdered sugar
• ½ tsp vanilla
• 2 to 3 Tbsp cream
• ½ cup chopped pecans
1. In a small bowl, stir the first 3 ingredients together; add cream until
it's of spreading consistency; stir in pecans. Spread and cut
as above.
Done!
Ready to bake!
Favorite Things
from
the Kitchen
Recipes are like stories; they can change from person to person. Everyone has their idea of how a recipe should be, even
though it may have changed from the original. We will never know the true author of the original recipe, regardless of
what some may say. That's why I go back and look through the oldest cookbooks that I can find. Sometimes it's not the
recipe in the books that I find, but the tiny pieces of handwritten recipes and newspaper articles that are stuck within
the pages. That's where the real story is, finding those simple Southern recipes. -Mac