Fudgy Brownies

I had no intention of making this recipe (most of the time I make a list, I plan). But Dustin wanted, no he needed, chocolate. The boy has a serious sweet tooth. Quite a contradiction for a future dentist. He knows it. I was born without the chocolate-craving gene, and for that I am thankful. I like chocolate, sometimes love it, I just don't ever have to have it. Bread, now that's another story.

But back to Dustin. We had a mini crisis on our hands. In his moment of chocolate weakness, we were plum out of cookies and his Halloween candy stash had vanished much quicker than expected. So I set about to make some chocolate chip cookies. But oh, no! All the butter was frozen. Fluffy light perfect chocolate chip cookies require room temperature butter. (And a microwave won't get you there. Put a frozen stick of butter in the microwave and it'll melt the outside while the middle stays solid.) He couldn't wait several hours for that butter to warm up.

So I turned to the trusty All Recipes web site and found this recipe. It uses melted butter. That I could do. So I made brownies, and you know what- this random recipe was really good! I'd know because the next day I started sneaking pieces- and couldn't stop! Dustin loves classic box-mix brownies. These reminded us both of just that. So if rich chocolaty fudgy brownies are your thing- this recipe is for you.

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, melted
3 cups sugar (you can use half white and half brown sugar if you want)
1 Tbsp. pure vanilla extract
4 eggs
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (I used half dark cocoa and half regular)
1 tsp. salt
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Lightly grease a 9x13 inch baking dish.

2. Combine the butter, sugar, and vanilla in a large bowl and beat until incorporated. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, until thoroughly blended.

3. In a separate bowl, whisk or sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt. Gradually stir the flour mixture into the wet ingredients until blended. Fold in the chocolate chips. Spread the batter evenly in to the prepared baking dish.

4. Bake in preheated oven for 30-35 minutes, until the top is set and/or it passes the toothpick test. Remove from the oven to a wire rack and let cool before cutting.

Makes an 9x13 pan of brownies (halve recipe to fit an 8x8 dish).

(Adapted from All Recipes)