Chocolate brownie with dark chocolate frosting is something I can imagine ordering anywhere. Chocolate – good, Dark chocolate – even better. There is something so deliciously seductive and irresistible about chocolate, that it’s just plain addictive. Chocolate brownies are so easy to whip up at home that you’ll wonder why you ever scurried to “Cookie Man” (Sometimes the brownies at Cookie Man smell burnt and taste quite hideous) or “Coffee day” for a brownie. These chocolate brownies are dark, fudgy and so full of chocolate, they’re delicious. The final brownie batter is so wonderfully silky and chocolatey that by the time the flour and cocoa were mixed in, my daughter squealed “chocolate, amma chocolate” and dipped her little fingers into the batter to lick it up. She likes helping me bake, my son too. They grab a handful of measured out flour to powder themselves, break eggs, rummage through my tableware drawer for the most fragile pieces, empty icicng sugar packets and start fighting by the time the butter is creamed. They make baking a cake as gruelling and as dramatic as a master-chef challenge. Beat butter, turn around, grab the glass bowl, pull the sieved flour further away, put back the bowl and retrieve the icing sugar, give them cookie cutters instead to play with… Yeppa!
You could serve these brownies just as they are. They’re that yummy. Or you could up the chocolate quotient even more and frost them with this lip-smacking dark chocolate frosting. I generally don’t frost all of my squares at once owing to my family who are generally not very frosting crazy. I frost only a few of the squares and leave the rest as they are. I love it either way. You could even serve these brownies topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, some chopped nuts and chocolate sauce for an impressive dessert. I am a dessert crazy person. Even if everybody is totally full or it’s already too late and we need to get back to office or nobody feels like dessert, I feel like dessert, always. I crave something sweet after every meal. Having these brownies in the fridge, calms my nerves. I know I have a sweet ending waiting.
I used Hershey’s chocolate brownie and frosting recipe.
Prep time: 15 mins
Cooking time: 30 mins
Serves: 16 squares
Ingredients
Butter – 1/2 cup
All purpose flour/Maida – 1/2 cup
Cocoa powder – 1/3 cup
Baking powder – 1/4 tsp
Sugar – 1 cup
Eggs – 2
Vanilla – 1 tsp
Salt – 1/4
Chocolate Frosting
Butter – 3 tbsp
Cocoa – 3 tbsp
Icing sugar/Confectioner’s sugar – 1 cup
Honey – 1 tbsp
Milk – 3 tbsp (adjust as per your desired consistency)
Method
1. Grease and line a 9” square or rectangular pan.
2. Sift together flour, cocoa, salt and baking powder twice and set aside.
3. Melt butter in a medium bowl. Add sugar and vanilla to the melted butter and beat for about 2-3 minutes till it resembles wet sand.
4. Add eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition till the eggs are incorporated and the mixture is pale yellow.
5. Add the flour mixture and beat just till all the flour is incorporated.
6. Tip the batter into the pan and spread evenly with a spatula.
7. Bake 25-30 minutes or till a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out with just a few moist crumbs. Let cool completely before frosting or cutting into squares. While cutting, have a bowl of hot water handy to dip your knife into. This helps make cleaner cuts with fewer crumbs.
8. For the frosting, beat butter, cocoa, vanilla and honey in a small bowl till well blended. Add sugar and 1-2 tbsp milk and beat for 4-5 minutes till the frosting is smooth and is your desired spreading consistency. Add extra milk if necessary but in small increments.
9. Spread the frosting on the cooled brownies. Serve as is or with a glass of milk or topped with a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
