What makes a good brownie great? Quality ingredients

Over the years, I’ve shared several low-fat, low-sugar, or low-carb brownie recipes — all of them good.

Recently, Nan came across a very old, stained handwritten recipe card for Lillian’s Brownies. Originally procured from a colleague of Nan’s nearly 50 years ago, the recipe had the look of one that had been made many times over the years.

When Nan discovered this treasure buried in her recipe box, she made a batch for a holiday gathering. A pan filled with Lillian’s fudgy brownies went to the party and — no surprise — an empty pan came home.

If you compare Lillian’s recipe with other brownie recipes, you won’t find much difference. Brownie ingredients are nearly all the same; what’s different is the quantities. For example, one cup of flour versus ½ cup, or four eggs versus two or even one, or more cocoa powder, or more or less flour.

When I thought about it, it is ingredient quality that can make brownies better.

There is no way to know which brand or type of ingredients Lillian used. So I made a batch of her brownies using my ingredients.

To make certain Lillian’s brownies deliver a big chocolate flavor, which is what brownies are all about, I used Penzey’s brand Natural High-Fat Cocoa. If you have a favorite cocoa, use it.

Recently, I was surprised to find brownies at my favorite bread bakery made with einkorn flour. That bakery’s brownies are dense and heavy and literally melt in my mouth, almost like candy.

Einkorn? Yes. Einkorn wheat flour is an ancient wheat, one that’s higher in protein and significantly lower (30%) in starch than today’s wheat. I’ve successfully used it to make cakes, cookies, and shortbreads like cornbread. It thickens sauces, like gravy, flawlessly. It is said to offer several health benefits over today’s highly hybridized wheat flour.

Except for the cocoa, I used organic ingredients, including organic, free-range eggs, organic butter from Wisconsin, organic vanilla extract and organic cane sugar.

Are these ingredients more costly than non-organic? Yes. For me, they are worth a little more and seem to deliver better results.

I didn’t add nuts to my version of Lillian’s brownies since I’ve never liked nuts in brownies.

However, if you like brownies with added nuts, I recommend walnuts or pecans that have been lightly toasted to boost their flavor. You can also add sliced almonds and ¼ teaspoon of almond extract.

Finally, when Lillian’s brownies came out of my oven, they looked pretty plain. My mom used to dust her brownies with powdered sugar; so, once they cooled, I did just that using a paper doily as a template to make them look a little fancier.

My version of Lillian’s brownies was soooo good it was hard to stop at just one, ummm two ... well, three.

Make your own and let me know what you think.

• Don Mauer welcomes questions, comments and recipe makeover requests. Write to him at 1leanwizard@gmail.com.

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Lillian’s Old-Fashioned Brownies

2 large eggs

½ cup all-purpose flour*

6 tablespoons high-quality, natural cocoa powder

4 ounces (one stick) butter, melted

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup toasted, chopped nuts, optional

Place the oven rack in the middle position and begin heating to 325°F.

In a small bowl, whisk the eggs until combined. Set aside.

Using a wire mesh strainer, sift the flour and cocoa together into a medium mixing bowl. Set aside.

Add sugar to a medium-large mixing bowl. Set aside.

Add butter to a 9-by-9-inch baking pan (the same one used to bake the brownies) and place in the oven for about 2 minutes to melt. Remove the pan from the oven and carefully transfer the melted butter to the bowl containing the sugar. Whisk together. Add eggs and vanilla and whisk until completely combined. Add flour and cocoa mixture and whisk until combined. Stir in nuts, if using.

Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for 25 minutes or until the brownies have slightly pulled from the pan’s side. Cool completely. Makes 16 brownies. When cool, the brownies may be lightly dusted with powdered sugar.

*Note: I used organic einkorn flour, organic eggs, butter, and sugar.

Nutrition values per brownie: 129 calories (50% from fat), 7.2 g fat (4.1 g saturated fat), 17 g carbohydrates (15.8 net carbs), 12.6 g sugars, 0.7 g fiber, 2.1 g protein, 42 mg cholesterol, 50 mg sodium.

— Don Mauer