A Valentine’s Day Treat – Easy to Make

Saucepan Brownies by mjcuisine

Valentine’s Day beckons with hearts, roses and everything chocolate. For many of us in the midst of bitter winter, it’s a time to reach out and lift our spirits with a bit of frivolity. Off the diet, off the regime, off the track for just a day to indulge in a little extravagance. We don’t do it often, and we’ll be happier to go back to work the next morning having lit some candles and enjoyed a bit of sweetness.

As we look around, everything’s coming up chocolate. If you have a box of unsweetened cocoa powder in your pantry and a stick of butter in your fridge, you can beat out Godiva in sensational flavor with just a short stir-up of these fabulous saucepan brownies. Here’s your chance for a last minute gift to give the ones you love something from the heart, something homemade.

I first came to this recipe as one my young twin granddaughters could make, but they’ve been such a hit, they’re now standard stock, and my 5-year old grandson thinks his packed lunch is incomplete without one of these brownies.

Take a break:  get offline, forget about ordering expensive flowers, stir up a pan of brownies and give the memorable best—home baking.

Saucepan Brownies

4 oz. unsalted butter (1 stick)

7 oz. sugar (1 cup)

2 oz. cocoa powder (unsweetened) (2/3 cup)

2 eggs

2 oz. all purpose flour (rounded 1/3 cup)

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon (optional)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 teaspoon water

3 oz. chocolate chips or broken walnuts (1/2 cup)

Line an 8 by 8 inch baking tin with parchment. Preheat oven to 325º

Melt butter in a heavy saucepan. Stir in sugar and cocoa.

Remove from heat, cool 5 minutes. Beat in eggs one at a time, followed by the vanilla and water. Tip in the flour with cinnamon and salt and beat with a wooden spoon for 60 strokes (good work for the abs!). Stir in the chocolate chips or nuts and spread the batter in the parchment-lined tin. Place in preheated oven and bake for 20-25 minutes or until puffed and glistening on the top. Take care not to over bake.

Cool, remove from baking tin, peel down parchment an cut into squares, 16 or 32 depending on size.

Happy Valentine’s Day