Jon’s family brownies: Good for any occasion
Made-from-scratch brownies became our family’s tradition when we moved to Washington. Here’s how to make them.
Photo by Jonathon Lee Cobb II
Brownies are one of the easiest and best comfort foods for friends and your family.
When I think of brownies, I remember my family gathering on Thanksgiving, Christmas, Easter, and even birthdays, wondering how this batch would turn out or be different from the last. They were what held us together like glue and macaroni art.
We would take turns bringing them to each event and even put our spins on them such as a theme with little decorations. For Christmas we would make them in the shape of Christmas trees and even decorate them with frosting and candy to look like bulbs on the tree.
For my family, it was an amazing bonding experience.
When I moved to Washington – away from my extended family – it was a lot harder to enjoy the holidays without them, but my mom, dad, brother, and I wanted to do something that would help keep us connected with home. We decided we’d use brownies to do this.
So, on the first Christmas here, we gathered in our kitchen and made what we thought were the best brownies we had ever made – even adding a little powdered sugar on top of them to add the final “wow” factor. When we were all done, we knew this was the family tradition we wanted to keep doing.
This was the first family memory that I had in Washington, which makes this incredibly special to me.
These brownies are not hard to make either. These are not your from-the-box brownies – they are from scratch. A lot of the ingredients are things you can find around your house, which makes it a lot easier to round up the other ingredients if you don’t have them in your house.
Here’s how you make them.
Start by preheating your oven to 325 degrees so that by the time you are done mixing all the ingredients together, you can put it right into the oven. Spray your baking dish with non-stick spray.
In one bowl, combine the eggs, oil, water, and vanilla. In a second bowl, combine sugar, flour, cocoa powder, powdered sugar, chocolate chips, and salt.
Once you mix them separately, add them into one bowl and mix well until fully combined. Pour the mixture into the baking dish, and since you preheated the oven earlier, it should be ready to put straight into the oven. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes.
To check for doneness, poke the middle with a toothpick or a fork. If the mix sticks to the toothpick, then put it back in and keep cooking till done. When they’re done, the toothpick will come out clean. Take them out, and let them cool down.
Cut them however you want, and if you want to add a little something extra on top, add powdered sugar and enjoy the little piece of heaven you just made.
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