Delish Thursday: Gooey, Chocolatey Brownies

Hi Friends!

The flowers start blooming and the temperatures begin to heat up and then I know for a surety that my birthday is just around the corner.

It has always been fun having a birthday in the early summer. When I was growing up, I had the joy of anticipating the summer break from school and my birthday all at the same time.I even graduated from high school on my birthday!

What a gift…”Happy Birthday, here’s your diploma!”

As a child, my birthday party usually included a picnic or water party or barbecue. We still get together as a family for my birthday.

My wonderful husband usually takes me out to eat and then I “help” him make my birthday dessert. (He doesn’t love baking and I get a lot of pleasure from it, so I don’t mind helping at all and I get to lick the spoon!)

Today I’m going to share my favorite brownie recipe with you. I often request this for my birthday dessert. These brownies are moist and cake-like and oh so chocolatey!

Make some for a loved one for their birthday and they will never want a birthday CAKE again!

Mom’s Fudgy Brownies

For the Brownies:

• 1 1/2 cups butter, melted
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3 cups granulated sugar
• 6 eggs
• 2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 3 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
• large pinch of salt

For the Frosting:

• 5 cups powdered sugar
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup cocoa powder
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup hot water
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Grease a 12”x16” jelly roll pan, set aside.

Combine melted butter and 3/4 cup cocoa powder and stir until well mixed. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine sugar and eggs. Mix well. Slowly stir butter/cocoa mixture into sugar mixture. Blend well. Add vanilla, flour, salt and nuts. Batter will be very thick.

Spoon batter onto prepared jelly roll pan. Bake for 30 minutes checking brownies after 20 minutes. You don’t want them to overbake. They should look done and set all around the edges but still be soft in the middle.

For the frosting, mix all the ingredients together and carefully spread the frosting over the hot brownies. Cool and serve.

*Note: The consistency of the frosting should be a little thinner than regular frosting but not much. When you spread it over the hot brownies do so carefully. The frosting will melt slightly and turn into a fudgy frosting.

Delish Thursday is a KDXU weekly feature written by local St. George culinary expert Laura Squires. Laura doesn't have a restaurant or bakery, but if you've ever tasted her food, you know that she is one of the best food artists in the world! Laura has been a resident of Southern Utah for  more than 30 years.