Angry Brownies

So there are certain times in a woman's life when she absolutely, unmistakably, inescapably needs to bake something.  Baking is the art of following directions, using technique, and knowing that the end product will be the direct result of all of your hard work.  How many times in life do you get to see the direct result of your actions?  How many times can you visualize, act, and get the result you want?  This is why baking can be so monumentally satisfying.  So, break out the brownie mix, in my case, and start the magic.

This just happens to be the brownie mix I had lying around.  I go for the most chocolate possible.  Preheat oven to 350.  Open mix, pour into bowl.

I'm starting to feel better already.  Whew!  Now, for this mix I needed 1/2 cup of oil and 1/4 cup of water.

 Add two eggs

 

Now comes my favorite part.  Obviously the amount of chocolate and flavor in any generic brownie mix doesn't even come close to what I want.  So, from the self proclaimed food snob, here are my additions!

2 Tablespoons of espresso

 

Then just mix until the batter is incorporated, no more dry stuff.

This is about three quarters of the way through.  Once its incorporated choose the pan you want to cook it in.  I chose a 8x8 inch pan.  In the center of the pan I poured about 1 teaspoon of vegetable oil onto the bottom.

 

Take a paper towel and move the oil around the bottom and the sides of the pan.  This will prevent the batter from sticking to the pan while it cooks!

 

Pour the delicious, chocolaty batter in!

 

I hope that you can understand just how excited I am getting at this point.  The chocolate awesome is on its way.  Then in an act of pure hedonistic pleasure, add semi-sweet chocolate chips to your hearts desire all over the top of the batter.

Put her in the oven and sorry but you have to wait for 30 minutes.  Do something.  Pace.  Or my favorite, watch some trash tv.  Bravo is great for trash tv.  I can't get enough of the nonsense.  Soon enough, not only will you be watching trash tv, but you will be eating espresso chocolate chocolate brownies as you watch the garbage on the screen.  So how can you tell its done?  Well, the timer is a good bet, but let's say you're watching the brownies and you are noticing that the top is starting to look a little dry and the timer hasn't gone off.  Well, check them!  Take them out and put a toothpick into the center of the brownies, in my case I had matches.

 

Remove the stick and if it comes out dry, no wet batter comes out, then the brownies are done!

So they're done, now you need to let them cool.  Trust me.  Aside from not burning your mouth you will appreciate the brownies so much more.  If you're like me, then you want the brownie that is in the middle of the pan.  So, when they are cool, they are more easily accessible.

So now they are cool.  Go for gold.  Go for the middle, you're an adult, its okay.  

Eat your heart out, because you can.  And now you can relax.