Mrs. Inman's Brownies

Mrs. Inman’s brownies are the kind of recipe that gets passed around on index cards at church potlucks. No fancy technique, no complicated steps. Cream butter with sugar, beat in eggs, fold in flour, chocolate, and a full cup of chopped pecans. That’s it.

The unsweetened baking chocolate (two squares, or seven tablespoons of cocoa if that’s what you have) gives these a deep, fudgy chocolate flavor without being too sweet. Combined with a generous amount of butter and three eggs, the result is a brownie that’s dense and chewy in the center with slightly crispy edges along the pan.

The baking powder is an interesting addition you don’t see in most brownie recipes. It gives a slightly cakier lift to the crumb rather than the ultra-fudgy, almost raw center some recipes aim for. These are the classic potluck brownie: sturdy enough to stack on a plate, rich enough to satisfy, and simple enough to memorize.

Pro Tips

• Melt the chocolate gently before folding into the batter. If using squares, a double boiler or microwave in short bursts works best. Scorched chocolate tastes bitter and grainy.
• Beat the eggs well before adding. Well-beaten eggs incorporate air that lightens the dense batter.
• Don’t overbake. Pull them at 25 minutes even if the center looks slightly underdone. Carryover heat finishes the job and you’ll have chewy brownies instead of dry ones.
• Let them cool completely in the pan before cutting for clean edges. A plastic knife cuts cleaner than metal through sticky brownies.

Variations

• Use walnuts instead of pecans for a more traditional Northern-style brownie.
• Stir in a handful of chocolate chips along with the nuts for pockets of melted chocolate.
• Dust with powdered sugar after cooling for a simple, classic finish.