fudge brownies

I thought I already found perfect brownie recipe, but then I came across this one. This one comes with frosting! So it's double the goodness. You don't need a mixer for this one,  so it was very easy to make. It turned out better than the previously posted one. Give it a try!

Ingredients: 

Butter - 1/2 cup (1 stick)
White sugar - 3/4 cup
Eggs - 2
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 1/3 cup
All-purpose flour - 1/2 cup
Salt - dash (1/4 tsp)
Baking powder - 1/4 tsp

[Frosting]

Butter - 3 TBS (softened)
Unsweetened cocoa powder - 3 TBS
Honey - 1 TBS
Vanilla extract - 1 tsp
Confectioners' sugar (powdered sugar) - 1 cup  [try with 3/4 cup first. it can be too sweet for some people]

Prep:

1. Measure all ingredients. 
2. Combine flour, salt and baking powder in a bowl. Set it aside.
3. Take out the butter for frosting in advance so it'll be soft when you work with it.
4. Grease and flour (or use parchment paper) 8-inch square baking pan.

Greased and ready to be dusted with flour!

Bake:

1. Preheat oven to 350 F.
2. In a pot or large saucepan (**see TIPS), melt 1/2 cup of butter. When melted, remove from heat and add in sugar. Using your whisk, mix about 10 times. 
3. Add in eggs and vanilla. Whisk for 15-20 times (don't over mix it) 
4. Add cocoa powder. Using silicon spatula, mix until incorporated. 
5. Add in dry ingredients (flour, baking powder and salt) and mix with spatula. Make sure you scrape from the bottom of the pan to have even batter. But do not over mix. 
6. Bake for 20-22 minutes. **see TIPS 
7. While it's baking, mix all ingredients under frosting. When the brownie is done, take it out and let it cool a bit, but while it's still warm, spread the frosting.  **see TIPS

Serve:

1. We love to serve this warm fudgey brownies with cold vanilla ice-cream. 
2. My husband dunks his brownies in milk. 

TIPS

• I prefer to use stainless steel pots so I can use the metal whisk directly, unless you have silicon whisk and spatula. 
• Every oven is different. The original recipe said to bake for 25-30 minutes, but I always cut 5 minutes because my oven is very powerful (I don't think it's 350 F...) so get to know your oven - do few rounds to figure out the timing and the placing of the pans.
• Sometimes it's hard to get the frosting spread smoothly. Suggestion #1: make sure butter is very soft to begin with. #2: add less sugar (work with 3/4 cup first) and #3: Warm the spoon with hot/warm water, wipe it clean and while the spoon is still warm, use to spread (side to side motion)