Yummmy! Brownies

I made these yesterday and they were pretty good. I didn't follow the recipe exactly because I didn't have the exact ingredients as listed. I improvised a bit and ended up with a rather tasty  treat that the boyfriend and I enjoyed seconds of!

With my improvisation I ended up with a brownie that was more cake like but still tasty. I figure if you follow the recipe as listed you will have a much denser result that looks like the picture. I will probably do that next time just to see how it turns out.

The only reason that I made this chocolate treat was that I haven't baked any goodies since before I moved to this place in September 2011. My boyfriend also commented that in our two years together I have never baked any kind of treats for him. I cook most nights and he loves my cooking but baking is something of mine that he had yet to experience until yesterday. He was pretty happy about the results!

The original recipe listed below is a from a vegan focused recipe site. As I am not a vegan I decided that I wanted something with a little more to it. When I cook and sometimes when I bake I like to play with the recipe a bit to see what I get. Nine times out of 10 it works out pretty good. That's not too bad.

The only reason I started with this recipe is because it is simple and I had most of the ingredients in one form or the other in the cupboard. (eg. Olive instead of Vegetable oil, brown instead of white sugar) Of course while I was looking to see what was on the shelves I started to get ideas of adjusting the ingredients a bit to make the treat more exciting. Nothing overly fancy but definitely something to 'up the wow factor' and add some richer flavour. Below the original recipe I will list the changes I made. As I said nothing fancy but definitely worthwhile trying.

Brownie recipe (original)
Ingredients

• 2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
• 2 cups white sugar
• 3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup water
• 1 cup vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Directions

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
In a large bowl, stir together the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Pour in water, vegetable oil and vanilla; mix until well blended. Spread evenly in a greased 9x13 inch baking pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, until the top is no longer shiny. Let cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into squares.

Alterations I made that added more flavour and gave me a more cake like texture:

• Brown sugar instead of white sugar. Same amounts. Brown sugar gives a darker color and slightly richer flavour.
• Reduce oil to 1/2 cup and add 2 eggs and wisk well. This what gives it a fluffier texture like cake.
• 1/2 cup shaved milk chocolate

I found that with the eggs I had to bake this mixture an additional 10 minutes to ensure it was thoroughly cooked. For the most part you can bake it for 30-35 minutes or until knife/toothpick comes our clean.

As an added treat and for even MORE flavour I layered some After Eight mints on top. This made them triple chocolatey decadent! Give it a try. You will like it! If not, then make your own changes. I bet you can come up with something!