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1/15/09

Brownies using Cocoa

When I was a child my Mom typically made one kind of brownies. We only had a couple of cook books and 1 recipe box and I remember her recipe being on an index card in the metal box. It was made with a can of Hershey's chocolate syrup. When I was older, perhaps junior high, we always had Hershey's syrup on hand but since my Dad loved it on his ice cream it was never a 'new' can and never completely full (*smile*) which meant we found a new recipe for brownies. This one used cocoa powder and was used throughout my my time living at home before I moved out when I was 18.

When I saw this recipe in my files I just smiled with the memory of our Hershey's brownies. These days I make my family's favorite brownies with a dark chocolate cake mix as it's starting base or with melted semi-sweet or unsweetened baking bars. But! I always keep recipes like this on hand to fall back on when I don't have baking squares on hand because really, brownies made in almost any form are perfectly delicious!

Brownies

3/4 cup Hershey's cocoa
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2/3 cup oil
1/2 cup boiling water
2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1-1/3 cup flour
1 tsp. vanilla
1/4 tsp. salt

Stir cocoa and baking soda in a bowl. Blend in oil. Add boiling water and stir just until blended. Add sugar, vanilla and eggs and mix by hand. Add the flour and salt, mix just until moist and pour into a 9x13 pan that you have only greased the bottom (not sides) of. Bake 35 minutes in a preheated 350 degree oven until the edges are firm but the center is just set. Do not over bake! This is why brownies get dry and hard. Better to undercook by a few minutes than to over cook!Print Friendly and PDF