Top Secret Brownie Recipe

This recipe was tested numerous times -- mostly on Sunday afternoons -- see variations........

Pre-heat oven to 350.

In a saucepan, melt:

• 2 sticks of butter
• a couple of handfuls of marshmallows -- it's really impossible to use too many

after marshmallows are mostly melted, add:

• 2/3 cup cocoa powder

remove from heat once cocoa powder is mixed in. Then mix in:

• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• if you have chocolate extract, you can add some of that as well

After that is combined, add:

• 1 and 1/4 cup flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder

bake in a greased/floured METAL pan @ high altitude for 30 - 35 minutes. This recipe doesn't work as well at sea level or in glass pans.

Variations -- the usual nuts, etc work and

PB Option:

Mix together 1 cup of peanut butter, powdered sugar & milk (evaporated milk or cream work really nicely here) until you have a batter consistency. Drop spoonfuls of the PB mixture into the chocolate after it is in the pan -- swirl together and bake as normal.

Coconut option:

Substitute 1/2 cup of coconut flour for 1/2 cup of the normal flour. Add coconut flakes (I like the unsweetened kind) and chopped macadamia nuts.

Alien moon landing version:

Mix in a bunch of big marshmallows at the very end. They float to the top during baking and make really yummy craters.

Funky flours:

If you have hazelnut flour or almond flour -- you can substitute 1/2 a cup of that for the regular flour. I would add a co-ordinating nut. If you don't have funky flours, try Bob's Red Mill. Actually, ask me first -- I either have a stash, or I'm getting ready to place an order.

Don't try this at home version:

One time when I was making this -- I think I was about 13, we were out of vanilla. So, I thought I'd add some almond extract instead. Then I decided that I really didn't like the taste of the almond extract. So I added three times as much peppermint extract to cover up the almond. Well, that was even worse. So I dumped in a bunch of lemon juice and stuck it in the oven. They were hands down the most horrible batch that I ever made. Paul, Johnny & Bryce ate the whole pan.