Passport & Plate - GG's Blonde Brownies
Ingredients
1 cup brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 tsp vaniila
1 egg
1 cup all purpose flour, sifted
1/8 tsp baking soda
pinch of salt
milk chocolate chips (more is better)
How to prepare this recipeThis is a fairly simple recipe, with a few key steps that make these brownies unforgettable.
In a medium sized bowl, sift together the AP flour and baking soda. Add the salt and mix together.
In a saucepan, melt the butter down to boiling. This is the key step that many people miss, that make these brownies so good. It is important to boil the butter for at least a minute, until it caramelizes. I always melt a bit more than a 1/3 cup of butter, because you will lose some as the butter boils, and you want all of the caramelized butter for the brownies.
As the butter is boiling, put 1 cup of packed (it must be packed tight!) brown sugar in another large bowl. Once the butter is melted, pour it immediately over the sugar, covering as much of the sugar as possible! This is the second key step. Mix these two ingredients well. Then, add the vanilla and egg. Mix together until all the egg is incorporated.
Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix together. Do not over mix though because then the brownies will be tough, rather than gooey, in the middle.
Grab a 9 X 13 pan (glass works best, so the bottom crisps up, but any kind is fine), and grease and flour the bottom and the sides. Pour the batter into the pan and use your fingers (butter them up so they don't stick) to push the batter to the sides. You can use a spatula, but I find my fingers work best- plus you get to lick the batter after!
Now, the most important part: Sprinkle as many chocolate chips as you want on top of the brownies. There is no wrong way to do this. Lots, or little, milk, or semi sweet... sometimes I even add some Skor bits along with the chocolate- whatever your preference is!
Put the brownies in a preheated 350 degree oven for about 25 minutes, or until the top is golden brown.
Wait until cool (if you can!), cut and serve. I promise they will not last long!
The story behind this recipeFirst of all, I will never hear the end of it from my family for giving you guys this recipe- everyone who eats these brownies have come to know them as the "Lidbury Secret Recipe"!
Food is a universal language. It's a language of love. Acceptance. Welcoming. Understanding. Food is one of the world's best methods of communication. It brings people together.
I am 23 years old and do not remember a single family function, dinner, party or get together where a pan of these brownies have not been sitting in the middle of the kitchen table. My GG, born in Norway, was 95 years old when she passed away. I was not fortunate enough to spend lots of time getting to know her; in fact, I think the only place I remember ever visiting GG was in the senior center. Her room was so small. A bed, bathroom, a little burgundy, red, velvet chair. And brownies. Always, always brownies. I don't know how she managed to bake a pan each time we visited, but she did!
My grandma, GG's daughter, I have been lucky enough to be able to know her. I have grown up at grandma's house. Christmas, birthdays, anniversaries, vacations. No matter the occasion, big or small, we gathered at grandma's house. And again, front and center, there were always brownies. It's a simple recipe, but it has been passed down, kept a 'secret', from my Norwegian GG, to my grandma, to my mom, and now to me.
People are gathering around my table now, to talk, to laugh, to share, to eat. I travel, around the world, and am welcomed graciously into peoples homes and lives. They share with me who they are, what they do; often, we don't speak the same language. We are from opposite ends of the world. We have very little in common. I like to do something small for the people who show me hospitality, and more often than not, I bake them a pan of my GG's secret brownies. When they bite into a slice, and smile? Walls are torn down, and barriers, broken. We are connected.
