twelve days of christmas baking: day six

Brownies remind me of our best friends. (I often speak of them on the blog so I feel I should give you a little background.) We met Rusty and Whit in our first BYU married housing complex. I am so glad cheap rent brought us together. Whit and I don't really have a lot of girl friends (go figure) so it was pretty miraculous that we instantly hit it off. Pretty soon we began sharing meals and laughter multiple times a week. I would normally cook dinner, and they would bring the dessert. The most frequent dessert: brownies.

Well, they unexpectedly moved a year before we moved from Provo. It literally broke my heart. They had been through everything with us, and I couldn't believe life would go on without them. In some ways, it didn't. However, I learned to cope with having them live hundreds of miles away and turned to Whit's good old treat for quick recovery. I stopped buying box brownies when I learned how simple it was to make the delicious homemade kind. Here's my recipe:

Day six: My homemade brownies

2 c. sugar
1/2 c. cocoa
4 eggs
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/2 c. flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. softened butter (try not to gasp...just don't make these every week)

Mix sugar, cocoa, eggs and vanilla; gradually add flour and salt. When that is mixed, blend in butter. Spread in a 9x13 inch pan. Bake at 350 for 20-25 minutes. No baking soda or powder is needed for this recipe. Nuts are optional (but I don't like nuts in things so I always opt out of using them).