While living in the Canary Islands for over a year (and cooking for 16 to 30 twice a week) I had a quest to find a good homemade brownie, made with cocoa, since they have awesome cocoa but no brownie mixes. I never quite succeeded but have continued to try a recipe here and there. I found this on pinterest but don't know where since I jotted it down instead of pinning it. My dessert folder was getting overburdened with brownies. These couldn't be easier. They stir together in 5 minutes. The oil ended up being the secret, which wasn't surprising since all of the great US box brownies are made with oil. I used light olive oil to make them healthier.
Mix together in a med. bowl:
1 C. sugar
1/3 C. dark cocoa (I like the extra dark Hersheys cocoa but any will work add a little more regular if you want richer chocolate. I brought home 35 cans of Spanish Cocoa, which is quite dark)
½ tsp. salt
Beat in:
2 eggs
Scant ½ C. oil (7 T. I like to use
light olive oil)
1 tsp. vanilla
1/2 C. flour
1 T. cornstarch
Optional:
½ C. or more chopped nuts
1/2 C. or more any type chocolate
chip (milk, white or dark or a mixture)
This needs to bake in an 8 inch greased pan at 350 for 20-25 minutes. Don’t over bake and let them cool to lukewarm before trying to cut them.
Frost them hot for a melted glaze or cool and frost with a buttercream but they are good as is. The brownies in the photo are frosted with buttercream and topped generously with chopped toasted almonds.
If you want to double this
recipe bake it in a 11x14 inch pan not a 9x13 and bake for about 30 minutes
