Cook the Book – Espresso Brownies

For everyone with a craft or a skill, there come moments when you view past work and creations with your more learned self and struggle to find acceptance of that work.  Those moments come for me when I look at recipes I wrote five years ago.  I’m five years more experienced, five years more trained, five years more smart and yet, ugh.

And when I first began to write recipes, I wrote them in a way that was easy for ME to discern.  Hmmm.  Now I write recipes that hopefully are easier for the layman to use.  This brownie recipe is one of those, originally published in At Home, At Sea.  When I tested them a few days ago I found that the basic recipe is still terrific, it just needed tightening up.  Whew!

Espresso Brownies
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) butter
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon pure almond extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 tablespoons instant coffee granules
3 3/4 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

Grease a 9×13 baking pan.  Preheat oven to 375°.  Melt the chocolate and butter in double boiler until the chocolate is almost melted.  Remove from heat and stir occasionally until the chocolate is completely melted and the mixture has cooled to room temperature.  In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla extract, almond extract, salt, coffee and sugar.  Add the chocolate/butter mixture and stir.  Stir in the flour and mix until blended.  Spread the batter evenly in the prepared pan.  Bake 1 hour.  Cool in the pan and cut into squares.  If you can’t wait, they will take cutting warm.  The top may crack some.

Makes 12-24 brownies depending on how big you cut them.

Annie
Grateful for knowing more!

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