On-Call Brownies

Ahhh yes. It's one of those weekends when my husband and I are both on call. Luckily, my call is predominantly from home. He is not so lucky. Fortunately, it hasn't been crazy (knock on wood!), but I'm still pretty much home bound (or within a 15-20 minute radius) this whole weekend. It's too bad we're both on call over MLK weekend - ideally we would be in DC visiting the MLK memorial! Maybe next year.
I can't believe it's been 2 weeks since I've really cooked anything new! Transitioning back to a different part of work and studying has really taken up more time than I thought. Crazy. But, let's get down to business. Okay, let's face it - carrying a pager around is always better when you can lick brownie batter off a spoon. These brownies are so quick to put together and made with the good stuff (you already know by now). They're intensely chocolately (thanks to liberal use of cocoa powder). If you want something really deeply chocolately, go for cocoa powder over sweetened/unsweetened baking chocolate. Why? Baking chocolate contains both cocoa butter and cocoa solids /- sugar. In contrast, cocoa powder is made by eliminating cocoa butter (the fat) from cocoa liquor, leaving only the cocoa solids - precisely the compounds that give us that delicious chocolate flavor.
As you can see, boards are not the only thing I've been studying for (thanks to my brother for this wonderful distraction!)

These brownies are fantastic and have a texture somewhere in-between cakey and fudgy. They're rich, dark, and complex, and made with healthy ingredients. Honestly, making these at home, I wonder why anyone (myself included) has ever gone out to buy packaged desserts with all sorts of terrible, un-pronounceable ingredients. I love knowing exactly what is going into my food.
Yes, this takes a little more effort. Yes, you have to get a bowl out and mix a few ingredients together. The preparation will take you less than 10 minutes, and you'll have chocolate heaven - warm and melty - straight from your oven just 15 minutes later. It's absolutely worth it.


On-Call Brownies
makes one small 8x8 pan (if you want more, just double the recipe)
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/3 cup olive oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp salt
1/4 cup milk
1/4- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (your preference, depending on just how chocolately you are feeling)


Directions
1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Combine olive oil, brown sugar, eggs, and vanilla in a mixing bowl
3. Stir in cocoa powder, whole wheat flour, salt, and milk. Mix until just combined
4. Gently stir in chocolate chips
5. Lightly grease the bottom of your pan. Add batter to pan and spread evenly
6. Bake at 350F for approximately 15 minutes (or whenever an inserted fork comes out clean)
7. Sprinkle some coarse sea salt or kosher salt over the tops of these (optional) and enjoy!


I hope you'll give these a try - let me know how they turn out for you. Thanks for reading!
~R
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