My new favorite brownie recipe

I've always been a box brownie girl. I make almost everything from scratch, but I just couldn't get the right brownie recipe--they were always too cakey or not chocolatey enough, or just too expensive (cream and baking chocolate? Sorry.).

But Dan was bored the other day, so I handed him a cook book. It happened to have a whole chapter on brownies, and the first recipe he picked came out pretty good, so he decided to try another. It was called "Marshmallow Brownies." No doubt he was thinking Rocky Road brownies, minus the nuts (since we don't do nuts around here).

What we got was something akin to fudge, in a brownie form. It's not a sticky-chewy brownie (although I love those), and it's definitely not cakey. It's just a nice, dense brownie with a fantastic dark chocolate flavor. No marshmallows in sight.

And no added sugar! But never fear, these are far from healthy. The main ingredients are marshmallows and chocolate chips. As the processed food industry has discovered, not adding sugar as an ingredient doesn't mean something has no sugar in it!

With marshmallows in the recipe, this sounds like a kids' treat, but it comes out quite elegant and not really  kiddie at all--in fact, it's too dark and rich for some of my kids.

So the recipe, modified. (I didn't change the ingredients, but I did change the process significantly. The recipe book was a pre-microwave one and the process was much more difficult. We use the  microwave to simplify things. I also changed the name. "Marshmallow Brownies" is accurate, ingredients-wise, but not accurate in regards to the final product or the "eat".).

Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

1 1/2 c mini marshmallows
1 c semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 c margarine or butter
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 c flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
dash salt

Put the marshmallows, chocolate chips, and margarine in a microwave-safe bowl. Microwave, stirring every 30 seconds or minute, until everything is smooth. Let it cool. Then add the eggs and vanilla and stir until well mixed. Add the flour, baking powder, and salt, in that order, and then stir until it's mixed. Pour this into a greased 9x9 pan (a perfectly square one, without sloped sides--these are usually old metal ones--makes a better brownie by FAR). Bake for 20 minutes at 350.

We topped these with the "frosting" suggested in the original recipe. It wasn't really a frosting, though. It was more like half-way between a frosting and a glaze.

Here's the recipe--again modified to make it easier, and also to use chocolate chips instead of baker's chocolate squares:

1/2 c mini marshmallows
1 tbsp butter or margarine
2 tbsp chocolate chips
4 tsp milk OR orange juice
3/4 c powdered milk

Microwave the marshmallows, butter, chocolate chips, and liquid (milk or orange juice) for one minute. Stir. Heat again at 30 second intervals, stirring between, until the mixture is completely melted and smooth. Add the powdered sugar and stir until smooth. Spread or pour onto the warm or cool brownies.

Let the whole thing cool and set up for a few minutes. You can still serve them warm--just not piping hot, or the frostinglaze runs off.  These were really really good with ice cream and fresh raspberries, although the chocolate flavor completely overwhelmed the raspberries. A good fresh raspberry sauce would have worked better.

Easy and worth it! These are so rich, though, that you really can cut them into 1" or 1 1/2" squares and it's big enough.