At Christmas I do all sorts of baking I wouldn't normally do for our own family. I bake for my husbands 100+ employees as well as friends and extended family so I use a lot of ingredients we normally don't keep on hand. After Christmas I do a pantry purge and pack away many of the items. I currently had 2 regular cake mixes leftover in the pantry. When our son came to visit last weekend he was giving me a hard time about all the food in the house being 'sugar free'. He was more than thrilled when I pulled this mix out of the cupboard and told him I'd make him some brownies.
I've posted about using a cake mix to make brownies before but I believe it was in 2010 and it was the full "Caramel Chocolate Brownies" where you use 35 caramels in addition to the cake mix, and you put a layer of melted caramel between the two brownie layers (you can search for it in the search box to the right if you wish). This time around it was just gooey, yummy brownies; sans caramel.
THREE ingredients and you have amazingly good brownies. Add about 3/4 - 1 cup chopped nuts if you wish. I love nuts in brownies, cookies and quick breads but alas, my family does not. So this recipe is a 'not' with nuts.
Chocolate Brownies
1 chocolate dry cake mix (18.25 oz)
1/2 c (1 stick) real butter
2/3 c evaporated milk
chopped nuts (optional)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine the cake mix (and nuts if you are using any) in a large bowl. Stir in melted butter and 2/3 c evaporated milk. The batter is going to be thick. Spread half the batter in a 9X13" pan. (You can use a 9X9" pan for thicker, more cake like brownies). Bake 35 minutes (or so), until the center is just set and doesn't jiggle, and it just firming up to the touch - do not over bake or they will be dry and the edges hard. Let cool completely before cutting.
