Brownies Even A Bear Will Love!

I LOVE brownies…and apparently so do bears!  To make a long story short….  Years ago I took a batch of these fabulous brownies on a camping trip at Redfish Lake.  The campground host warned everyone about bears & instructed us all to lock our food/coolers in our vehicles.  If a bear was spotted we were supposed to scare it away by setting off the car alarm.  In the middle of the night I heard a car horn honking, but thought nothing of it.  I figured someone was trying to scare a bear!  Turns out the bear had broken our driver’s side window & was climbing in & out of the car (hitting the horn in the process) to get at all of our food!  In addition to eating our cheese & lunch meat, the bear polished off an entire pan of these brownies!  I still have the pan complete with a puncture hole from either a tooth or claw to prove it!  Bake a batch for your next outing…but watch out for bears!  🙂

Ingredients

  • 1/3 c cocoa powder
  • 1-1/2 t instant espresso or coffee (optional)
  • 1/2 c + 2 T boiling water
  • 2 oz unsweetened chocolate, finely chopped (see NOTES below for substitution)
  • 4 T unsalted butter, melted
  • 1/2 c + 2 T canola oil (I also use olive oil)
  • 3 eggs
  • 2 t vanilla extract
  • 2 c sugar
  • 1-3/4 c flour
  • 3/4 t salt
  • 6 oz bittersweet chocolate, cut into 1/2″ pieces (or chocolate chips)

Adjust oven rack to lowest position & heat to 350 deg.

Whisk cocoa, espresso powder & boiling water together in alrge bowl until smooth. Add unsweetened chocolate & whisk until chocolate is melted. Whisk in melted butter & oil (mixture may look curdled). Add eggs & vanilla & whisk until smooth & homogeneous. Whisk in sugar. Add flour & salt & mix until combined. Fold in bittersweet chocolate pieces.

Scrape batter into 13 x 9″ baking pan & bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge & center comes out w/ just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 – 35 min. Transfer pan to wire rack & cool 1-1/2 hrs.

Cut into squares & serve. Enjoy!

NOTES:

  • I almost NEVER have unsweetened chocolate on hand. An great substitution for 1 oz unsweetened chocolate is 1 T cocoa powder + 3 T oil. So, this recipe would need 2 t cocoa + 6 T oil.
Look at that lovely hole! Tooth or claw…you decide!

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