I told my husband I would make him a treat this weekend – whatever he wanted. He requested brownies. I asked, “cream cheese brownies?” He said, “nope, plain brownies.” Alas, he likes to keep things simple. So I tried to make him plain simple brownies. But couldn’t help myself from dressing them up a bit. He consented to letting me frost them, and I threw in some chocolate chips without asking. Either way, these were easy to whip up and taste good still warm or cooled.

You will need:

1 cup butter
2 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 0z bittersweet chocolate
2 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt

Making it:

Heat oven to 350. Grease bottom and sides of 13×9 inch pan.
In a small saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat. Stir until melted and remove from heat immediately – let cool for 5 minutes.

In stand mixer bowl, beat chocolate mixture, sugars, vanilla, and eggs on medium speed until well combined (about a minute). Scrape sides of bowl well (it gets sticky). Start mixer back on low and gradually add the flour and salt. Scrape sides again and then mix on medium until smooth, about another minute.

Spread batter in prepared pan (sprinkle with chocolate chips, if you like) and bake for 40-45 minutes.

What’s that you say? You want to frost it like I did? Well, here’s how you do it.

You will need:

3 1/2 cups powdered sugar
1/2 cup butter (softened, but not melty)
2 tsp vanilla
3 oz unsweetened chocolate, melted and cooled
3 to 4 tbsp milk

Making it:

In electric  mixer bowl, beat powdered sugar and butter until blended. Beat in vanilla and chocolate. Gradually beat in milk until frosting is smooth. I prefer a thinner frosting, so I use a lot of milk, but for thicker frosting, use less.

Most people suggest letting the brownies cool before frosting them, but I am impatient and went ahead and frosted immediately. This melted the frosting into the brownie, making the top all warm and chewy, plus, it gave the top a nifty swirly, almost marbled look that is kinda pretty. Do as you wish, though.

This is the same recipe I use for my cream cheese brownies, but without the frosting and with a little cream cheese dessert mixture blended in. I’ll share that recipe another day.

Also, just asked my husband for the verdict on the brownies, he said, “f@!*ing delicious!” Nuff said.