Recipe: Pecan Brownies

I showed off these brownies in my last post. I promised to share the recipe. This recipe isn’t hard. It came from Recipezaar. You may even have a better recipe than this one. But since it’s all about my learning to cook around here, and I feel the need to share it with you, my readers, here’s the recipe in all its photo glory.

Now, before we begin I have to apologies to make.

First, I apologize for the odd squiggles and marks in each picture. If you notice, the squiggles are all in the exact same spot. I had dust on the sensor of my camera and didn’t realize it. Hopefully, tomorrow’s bento pictures don’t have this too!

Second, I apologize for the shots that include my hairy forearms! I truly, truly apologize. Learn from my mistakes. Do not put a macro lens on your camera then take a picture where your hairy forearm might be included. It’s just. not. pretty.

Now, on to the brownies. The brownies I made were the recipe linked above halved. This makes the perfect amount of batter for my 24-cup mini-muffin pan. And is way, way many more muffins than I need in my house, even if they are mini. I need someone to share them with, or mail them to, or feed them to. Anyhow, back to the ingredients…

1 tsp vanilla, 1/2 cup of chopped pecans, 24 whole(ish) pecan pieces, 2 eggs, 1/4 tsp baking powder, 1 cup of flour

1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup (1 stick) of butter, 1/4 cup + 2 tbs (give or take) of cocoa powder, and a pinch (1/8 tsp) of salt (in the spice jar)

Now, don’t forget the tools of the trade as it were.

Large mixing bowl, mini-muffin pan, non-stick spray, large spoon for mixing, cookie dough scoop. Don’t have a cookie dough scoop? That’s okay. Use a tablespoon instead.

Before you do anything else, spray your muffin pan. I only mention this since I forgot to spray it last time. The horror! of cleanup!

Melt your stick of butter in the microwave. I’ve learned if you only microwave the butter in increments of 15 seconds it doesn’t melt away into oblivion. Pour the melted butter into your mixing bowl. And at this juncture I just must say, “Buttah makes it bettah.”

Pour in 1 cup of sugar

and 1 tsp of vanilla.

Mix this goodness up

until well blended.

Add in the first egg

and again mix until well blended. Then add in the second egg

and mix until well blended. Have you discovered a pattern here yet?

Now it’s the time you’ve been waiting for…cocoa time. Pour in the 1/4 cup + 2 tbs of cocoa.

Breathe deeply (but don’t actually inhale the chocolate powder). AAAHHHH, chocolately goodness.

Now mix until,

you guessed it, well blended.

It’s time to add 1/4 tsp of baking powder

and a pinch of salt. Mix until well blended (Sorry, this well blended photo is not shown).

Pour in 1 cup of flour

and mix

(say it with me now) until well blended.

It is time to add the 1/2 cup of chopped nuts into the well-blended cocoa mixture. If you are allergic to nuts, DON’T ADD ‘EM!! Stop now. Or maybe add in a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. I bet that would be good.

Mix until the pecans are incorporated completely into the batter. Which is a fancy way of saying, mix until well-blended.

Using your fancy dancy cookie dough scoop (I love that thing), scoop batter into your greased mini-muffin pan (hairy forearm alert!).

Once all the cups are filled, press a whole(ish) pecan into the top of each cup of batter. These pecans will toast while baking and be so super tasty.

Bake at 350 degrees for about 20 – 25 minutes. It says to bake longer in the actual recipe. However, baking them as mini-muffins didn’t take as long as the recipe suggets. It took these about 23 minutes to bake in my oven. If you’re not sure, use a toothpick to test the brownies.

Here they are in all their baked glory.

What’s that you say? You wish you could get up close and personal with one. Well, your wish is my command.

Ahhhh, brownieeeeee.

Put 2 on a nice plate

and snarf them down!

I hope you enjoyed today’s recipe. These go so well in my bento. I hope they find their way into your bento too.