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Big Fat Yummy Brownies
by Jo Elizabeth Pinto

I love making brownies when I have the time and energy and all of the ingredients in my kitchen at once, which doesn’t happen often enough these days. I came up with my recipe by combining a couple of others that I unashamedly stole from friends and family, then tasting till I got everything just right–mostly because I got tired of skinny little puny brownies. If I want chocolate, I want chocolate! A big, fat chunk of it! These brownies are heavy, rich, and thick in the pan. I tend to make them in the winter after the holidays have passed, when the days get dreary and there are no more Christmas sweets to cheer people up, myself included.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes

Ingredients:
1-1/2 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (yes, I said cups)
1-1/2 cups (3 sticks) butter
5 eggs
3 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract (yes, tablespoon, not teaspoon)
1-1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2-1/2 cups chopped pecans or walnuts or semisweet chocolate chips (optional)

Preparation:
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease a 9 by 13 inch pan.

Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat or in a glass bowl in the microwave, stirring often; set aside.

With an electric mixer, beat eggs, sugar and vanilla for several minutes.

Alternately blend in chocolate mixture with flour and salt until just mixed.

Stir in the nuts or semisweet chocolate chips, if using. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for 35-40 minutes. (Don’t overbake. Brownies are done when toothpick inserted in center comes out sticky but not doughy.)

Cool completely before cutting. Cut into squares about two by three inches across. These brownies are rich; you won’t want to cut them any larger. The nuts and chocolate chips are nice, but not really necessary. Enjoy!

About the Author

Jo Elizabeth Pinto was among the first blind students to integrate the public schools in the 1970’s. In 1992, she received a degree in Human Services from the University of Northern Colorado. While teaching students how to use adaptive technology, she earned a second degree in 2004 from the Metropolitan State College of Denver in Nonprofit Management. She freelances as an editor and a braille proofreader and is a contributor of The Writer’s Grapevine Magazine where more articles like this may be found.

As an author, Pinto entertains her readers while giving them food for thought. In her fiction, nonfiction, and poetry, she draws on personal experience to illustrate that hope is always an action away.

Pinto lives in Colorado with her husband, her teenage daughter, her guide dog Spreckles, and an aging family cat named Sam-I-Am.

Her website is: http://www.brightsideauthor.com.