Fudgy Brownies. And Loopholes.

Chocolate. Mmm.

It's good for my soul.

Once upon a time, it was three o'clock on a bright Saturday afternoon and my husband was playing Red Dead Redemption (there's lots of shooting involved. And pretty horses. Other than that, I know nothing.), and I was taken with an urge to make brownies. And I loop-holed. 

I had no Dutch process cocoa or chocolate chips. I only had one cup of sugar and Hershey's cocoa. And  halfway through I realized I only had a teensy tiny bit of vanilla extract left.  

It was Saturday; I was replete with laziness. I had no desire to go to the store. I just wanted to eat fudgy delicious brownies. 

Ain't nuthin getting in between me and my chocolate fix. Take note, world. 

The loop-holing started small, but quickly spiraled out of control. I made a half batch and added some brown sugar. According to this website, you can substitute three tablespoons of Dutch-process cocoa for three tablespoons of natural cocoa plus a pinch of baking soda. Hence, my cocoa problem was taken care of. 

As for the vanilla, I remembered I had a vanilla bean pod (Yes. For real.), so I cut it in half and scraped out the seeds and put them in the batter. Also, may I just say that I believe in the magic of vanilla bean pods? Seriously. The smell is absolutely intoxicating. 

There are almost always loopholes in recipes. And the gods of brownie-dom didn't care about the ones I took; they smiled upon me, for the brownies were rich and delicious and lovely. Amen. 

Anyway, I suppose my point is for many recipes, there are creative alternatives. You just have to find them. 

Fudge Brownies,  copied from KingArthurFlour.com

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/4 cups Double-Dutch Dark Cocoa or Dutch-process cocoa
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
• 2 cups chocolate chips
• 
  
• Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan.
  In a medium-sized microwave-safe bowl, or in a saucepan set over low heat, melt the butter, then add the sugar and stir to combine. Or simply combine the butter and sugar, and heat, stirring, until the butter is melted. Continue to heat (or microwave) briefly, just until the mixture is hot (about 110°F to 120°F), but not bubbling; it'll become shiny looking as you stir it. Heating the mixture to this point will dissolve more of the sugar, which will yield a shiny top crust on your brownies.
  While the sugar heats a second time, crack the 4 eggs into a bowl, and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, espresso powder, and vanilla till smooth.
  Add the hot butter/sugar mixture, stirring until smooth.
  Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth. Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.
  Spoon the batter into a lightly greased 9" x 13" pan.
  Bake the brownies for about 30 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean, or with just a few moist crumbs clinging to it. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and the center should look very moist, but not uncooked. Remove them from the oven and cool on a rack before cutting and serving.