Iced Brownies

 Lee bought me the recipe book Sweet Tooth for Christmas.  I had checked it out from the library and found I wanted to make a BUNCH of the recipes. They had an iced or frosted brownie recipe called Lunch Lady Brownies.  I guess at one point a similar brownie was offered at school lunches.  I never bought a school lunch and my kids went to elementary schools that didn't offer a lunch so I wasn't sure what I would get. But who doesn't love a brownie?  These don't take much longer than a mix and were delicious. They turned out a bit more dense than the mixes. I did make a few minor changes to the recipe.

Iced Brownies

1/2 cup melted butter (1 stick)

1/3 cup cocoa powder

1 cup brown sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon salt

Icing

2 Tablespoons butter, slightly melted

3 Tablespoons cocoa

1 cup powdered sugar

1-2 Tablespoons milk or cream. You may need a bit more if using cream

1 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat the oven to 350°.  Line an 8 inch square baking pan with parchment paper.

Whisk the melted butter with the cocoa until smooth.  

Add the brown sugar, eggs and vanilla. Whisk until incorporated. 

Switch to a spatula and mix in the flour and salt. Don't over mix.  Stop stirring as soon as you can't see the white flour.

Spread evenly into the prepared baking pan.  

Bake for 25-30 minutes. The top should look done and a tester should come out clean.

Cool on a rack.

While the brownies are cooling make the icing. Slightly melt the butter in a medium bowl in the microwave, about 15 seconds.

Mix in the cocoa powder, powdered sugar, 1 Tablespoon of milk or cream and the vanilla.  You may need to add a bit more milk if it is too thick.  If you do add some, do it a small amount at a time.

Pour or scrape out the frosting on to the slightly cool brownies and spread across the top.  Let cool.

Lift the brownies out by grabbing the sides of the parchment paper.  Cut into squares.  Store in an airtight container.

I had to cut one corner off to taste the brownies .  Just to make sure it was good.  It was!

After a day when we were able to have willpower and still had most of the brownies left, I individually wrapped several and froze them.  Now I have emergency brownies!

This recipe can be doubled and baked in a 13X9 baking pan. Bake at the same temperature and check for doneness at 25 minutes.