On a Budget Brownies

Montserrat Cm
Jun 17, 2020
3 min read

Hello and welcome back!

Today I am sharing a recipe that is very fond of me. I am even a little bit insecure to share it, but here we go.

So this recipe took me to travel, to be more independent, because of this recipe I decided to create my own brand. You can see why I love this recipe haha.

Even though I'm still a homebaker with a small business. I can´t help to be proud of how far I had come since I used to sell these brownies when I was in college. And don't want to sound arrogant but they were a complete hit.

To be honest, it was quite a ride. Everyone believes that brownies are so simple, no rocket science, and it's kind of true. But there are simple things to understand. First everything depends on what type of brownie do you like and second (important) with how much money do you count with.

You can choose between cakey, fudgy, chewy, and a combination of all. Also the variety of what you can add: dark chocolate chips, nuts, toppings, frosting, cheesecake, etc. The sky is the limit.

When I started this journey, I remember I first tried with a box mix and I don't know how but they got BURNT and it was hard as a rock. After that incident, I got in my mind that everything from scratch is so much better.

I look for some different recipes but one big problem was money. Almost every recipe you can find on the internet contains butter and/or good quality dark chocolate chips. Those 2 things are so expensive for a student. So when I got to a recipe when I could use just cocoa and vegetable oil I was so fricking happy. Yes, I have made some changes between the years but its the same the essence.

So let's get started, for this recipe, we will use the same ingredients but 2 different ways, it will depend on the gadgets used. Results will be: 1. fudgy brownies and 2. cakey brownies.

What I love about this recipe its that it's so simple and no crazy nor expensive ingredients, you can find them all in your local store. I hope you enjoy and love this recipe as much as I do.

Brownies

Yields for 14 pieces

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups of caster sugar
1 1/4 cups of all purpose flour
3/4 cups of cocoa powder
1 1/4 tsp of salt
1 tsp of baking powder
4 eggs
1 1/2 cup of vegetable oil
2 tsp of vanilla

Instructions:

Method 1. You will need a stand/hand mixer. This will give you a fudgy brownie.

Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a 9X13 inch pan with parchment paper.
Sift dry ingredients and set aside.
2. Mix eggs and sugar for 10 minutes ( it sound excessive but this will incorporate a lot of air and will ensure a very fudgy brownie)
After the 10 min, continue mixing and add oil and vanilla.
To the egg/sugar mixture add the dry ingredients and fold until combined.
Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top with a spatula.
Bake for 20 min (it would be lightly puffed on top), remove the baking pan fon from the oven and slightly hit 2-3 times into a flat top.
Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 20 min. or until a wooden skewer inserted comes out fudgy but not undercooked. ( Don't sorry if the center of the brownies looks un baked, they will settle as they cool)
Let them rest on a cooling rack until completely cool.
Serve.

Method 2. You will need a whisk. This will give you a cakey brownie.

1.Preheat oven to 180 C. Grease a 9X13 inch pan with parchment paper.
Sift dry all dry ingredients.
Add and mix eggs one at a time, then add the rest of the ingredients until well combined.
One of my secrets its to add a splash of hot water/coffee to the mixture.
Bake for 40-45 min or until the wooden skewer inserted comes out clean ( few crumbles doesn't affect)
Let them rest on a cooling rack until completely cool.
Serve.

Notes:

You can add any topping you want chocolate chips, m&m's, nuts, coconut, even cheesecake! Just add them before start baking.
If you want to add more things to your brownies, I recommend this simple but delicious frosting. here's the recipe, its pretty easy.

Frosting Recipe:

Ingredients: