Food & Drink

One-Pot Cocoa Powder Brownies

Top: Rocky Road Brownies for my mom, Bottom: One-Pot Cocoa Powder Brownies for Abby

From the author:

For The Mom 100 Cookbook I tested many different versions of brownie recipes, searching for what I thought was the perfect one-pot brownie. I think I got there and many agreed . . . but others begged to differ. Well, not others. Just my friend Abby Schneiderman. While most people loved the Fudgy One-Pot Brownies, Abby could not stop talking about a recipe I had made that used only cocoa powder, no other chocolate, and which certainly made things quite easy. Abby made and enjoyed almost every recipe in the first book, but was not to be swayed in her nutty loyalty to the cocoa brownie recipe that I thought was second best. She brought them to parties, made them for celebrations, and all the while told everyone how wrong I was to have chosen the other brownie recipe over this one.

Well, I went back and found the recipe, and made them. I’m not saying she was right. I’m saying she has a point. My friend David Schiller, who finds the right words for everything, pronounced this an excellent morning brownie, after eating one at 10 a.m.

One-Pot Cocoa Powder Brownies

Makes 24 brownies

INGREDIENTS

1½ cups (3 sticks) unsalted butter, plus more for buttering the baking pan
2½ cups sugar
1¼ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
6 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powde
1 teaspoon kosher or coarse salt

INSTRUCTIONS

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Generously grease a 9 by 13-inch baking pan.
Melt the butter in a medium-size saucepan over medium heat. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and cocoa powder. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Stir in the vanilla. Stir in the flour, baking powder, and salt, mixing until the batter is completely smooth.
You can continue with Step 4 or see the Fork in the Road to go the rocky road route 30 minutes into the baking.
Pour the batter into the baking pan, smoothing the top. Bake until a toothpick or a skewer inserted into the middle of the pan comes out almost clean, 35 to 40 minutes.
Let the brownies cool completely in the pan on a rack before cutting them into 24 squares.

What the Kids Can Do: As with almost all baking recipes, there is plenty of measuring and stirring to help with. If you are making the rocky road version, there is also scattering to do.

Make Ahead: These keep in a tightly sealed container for about 5 days, and can also be frozen.

Fork in the Road: Rocky Road Brownies

A simple brownie is a pure joy. A rocky road brownie is my mother’s definition of bliss.

After 30 to 35 minutes of baking, when the brownies are almost done, remove the pan from the oven and scatter evenly over the top a mixture of 1 cup mini chocolate chips; 1 cup chopped walnuts, hazelnuts, or pecans; and 2 cups mini marshmallows. Return the pan to the oven and bake another 3 to 5 minutes. If you’d like everything toasted, run the pan under the broiler for just 1 minute. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack.

Or you can divide the batter into two greased 8-inch-square pans (the brownies will be slightly thinner), and put them in the oven. After 30 minutes, remove one pan and cover with half the amounts of the rocky road ingredients above. Return to the oven and bake another 3 to 5 minutes.

Dinner Solved!
by Katie Workman

From the bestselling author of The Mom 100 Cookbook (named one of the Five Best Weeknight Cookbooks of the Past 25 Years by Cooking Light) comes Dinner Solved! 100 Ingenious Recipes That Make the Whole Family Happy, Including YOU! With this cookbook, flexible recipes promise no more cranky eaters, no more dinner table strife, and no more unsure or stressed-out cook.