My Secret Ingredient Brownies

My latest obsession... BROWNIES! I go through phases of dessert cravings lately, you'd think I was pregnant or something. A few weeks ago it was ice cream for a few weeks, then I moved on to cookie dough and now it's brownies. I'm in love with them, I can't stop thinking about them. I've been stopping by a local bakery way too often this past week to get one of their delicious brownies. I decided I needed to create my own brownie recipe at home rather than getting them from the bakery so often. Also, I happened to have some left over evaporated milk in the refrigerator I didn't want to just toss out and needed to find a use for it. Brownies + evaporated milk, it was meant to be. Hence the secret ingredient.

This brownie has everything I want in a brownie. Its perfectly chocolaty, chewy, fudgy, dense, tender, sweet, decadent and it has that heavenly, thin, crisp layer on the very top (ahh) and last but not least it's such a convenient recipe using ingredients that you likely always keep on hand. I am a milk chocolate lover but if you are a semi-sweet chocolate lover you may want to increase the cocoa amount to 1/2 cup (and add an extra 1/2 Tbsp oil) rather than using 1/3 cup. 

The perfect brownie needs no upgrades, no added caramel, chocolate chunks, mints, frosting or even powdered sugar, it stands confident all on it's simple own and I'd have to say I think this just may be it! Enjoy!

Secret Ingredient Brownies
Yields 9 - 12 brownies


Ingredients:
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/3 cup cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup evaporated milk
1 1/3 cups granulated sugar
3 Tbsp vegetable oil
2 large eggs, cold
1 tsp vanilla extract


Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In a mixing bowl, whisk together flour, cocoa and salt until well blended and cocoa clumps have all broken up, set aside. In a small saucepan, melt butter with evaporated milk over medium low heat, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and allow to cool slightly (I just did this by whisking it for 1 minute, alternately the butter can be melted in microwave with evaporated milk in a microwave safe bowl in 20 second intervals, stirring after each interval until melted). Pour melted butter mixture into a large mixing bowl and whisk in sugar and vegetable oil. Add eggs and vanilla extract and mix until well blended. Add in dry ingredients and mix, using a wooden spoon, until combine. Pour and spread batter evenly into a buttered 8 x 8 baking dish. Bake in preheat oven for 32 - 36 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Allow to cool for about 15 - 20 minutes before cutting into squares.


Recipe Source: Cooking Classy