A story about brownies

It seems like it should be simple: buy necessary ingredients, then make brownies. But unfortunately that was not the case.  These brownies were several days in the making.  One day to buy ingredients, one day to be too busy in the kitchen to get around to making them, and then to top it all off, I made an embarrassing error.  Fortunately they were still edible and actually turned out better than I expected!
I turned to my beloved copy of "Baking From My Home to Yours" by Dorie Greenspan which contains several brownie recipes, and elected to stick with the classic recipe.




Things were going smoothly as I melted chocolate and butter together, whisked (yes, with a whisk - I don't question Dorie - she is a genius) in sugar and eggs, vanilla, flour, and salt.  

The trouble began when I decided that rather than using walnuts as the recipe directed (I've never liked nuts in brownies), I would use chocolate chips (semisweet, of course, to go with the chocolate in the brownies).  I dumped in a handful of chips, and casually tossed the bag aside as I folded them in, then poured the batter into the pan.  After placing it in the oven, I realized I had used milk chocolate chips rather than semisweet.  I panicked, but left the brownies to finish baking.

Fortunately, it was not a total disaster!  The brownies, although not the way they normally taste, were still really good!  In the future I will make sure I slow down and read the package, but in case all you have are milk chocolate chips, don't worry... They still produce very tasty brownies!

The aftermath: stray milk chocolate chips litter the counter

Classic Brownies 

(adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan)

5 tbsp butter, cut in pieces

2 oz chopped unsweetened chocolate

4 oz chopped semisweet chocolate

3/4 cup sugar

2 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

1/3 cup flour

1/2 tsp sea salt

1 cup milk or semisweet chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 F.

Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil and grease the foil.

Melt the butter and both kinds of chocolate together in a heat-proof bowl over simmering water.

Remove from heat and whisk in the sugar.

Whisk in the eggs, one at a time.

Whisk in the vanilla.

Whisk in flour and salt.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the chocolate chips.

Pour the batter into prepared pan and bake about 30 minutes, or until a knife in the center comes out clean.