I made this from hand-me-down instructions from my great grandma.
Umm... her instructions were a bit off - too much flour and too much
cooking time made for dry, almost overcooked brownies. I bet her oven
was not quite the quality of modern equipment.

So, here is my great grandma's brownie recipe, modified to actually
work in an oven that has accurate temperature settings. Don't try this
with a couple of $0.50 bars of Hersheys chocolate - some quality
chocolate makes a huge difference in the flavor.

10-12 oz semi-sweet (62 or 67%) cacao (dark, pure chocolate)
1 1/2 cups unsalted butter - buy the creamiest and best at your
supermarket
3 or 4 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup granulated sugar
2/3 cup unbleached all purpose flour
a few drops of pure vanilla extract
optional - 1/2 to 1 1/2 cups roasted, unsalted nuts - I prefer cashews,
but use what you like


- preheat oven to 350 degrees - must be preheated oven

- create a double boiler - in my case, a large glass bowl sitting on a
pot of rapidly boiling water

- melt chocolate (cut it into small pieces) and butter in the double
boiler

- in a seperate large bowl, beat eggs, vanilla and sugar together

- beat in the melted chocolate/butter mixture into the egg/sugar
mixture

- fold the flour (and optional nuts) into the brownie mix

- butter, then line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper

- pour mixture into pan, place in oven and bake for 18 minutes

- let rest for 30 minutes, cut into squares and enjoy