Aunt Sandy's Brownies

This is my Aunt Sandy's brownie Recipe. It has been tested and approved. Along with her recipe is her notes. Here it is as she sent it too me.....


Here is the much heralded Brownie Recipe. It is my original recipe, and I always make it in a large kettle. And usually I double it. But here is the single recipe. I like the blend of the 2 chocolates. With all semi-sweet chocolate, brownies can be cloyingly sweet, and with all unsweetened chocolate, there can be a bitter after-taste. And all the boxed brownie mixes that I have tried have a strange after-taste.*

Aunt Sandy's Brownies

2 2 ounce squares unsweetened chocolate
2 2 ounce squares semi sweet chocolate
2/3 cup butter

I put the sticks of butter into the saucepan and put the chocolate squares on top of the butter. Then I melt it over low heat, stirring often when the butter
starts to melt. When the mixture is smooth, beat in...

2 cups sugar
4 large eggs, one at a time

Then add after sifting together:

1 1/2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt

Beat until smooth, then add at least a cup of coursely chopped nuts - either pecans or walnuts.

Pour into greased and floured 9"X13" pan, bake at 350 degrees (or 325 for glass baking pan) for about 30 minutes. A toothpick stuck in middle should come out clean. Top with powdered sugar, and cut when cool. Only one unbreakable rule:DON'T INHALE WHEN YOU TAKE A BITE. IT ISN'T A GOOD IDEA WHEN EATING SOMETHING WITH POWDERED SUGAR.

I hope you like them.

With love, Aunt Sandy

*The only exception for brownie mixes (for me) is to bake them according to directions, and when they come out of the oven to sprinkle over the top a package of Andes Creme de Menthe chips. (I get mine at Wal Mart) These are fast, and cheap-sort of- and great for pot-lucks. But I still like mine better overall.

Best-Ever Bread-and Butters

The ice cubes help keep the thin cucumber slices from breaking

4 quarts. sliced cucumbers (40-50)
1/2 cups salt
2 quarts sliced onions
Ice cubes.
Gently stir salt into thinly sliced cucumbers. Cover with ice cubes; let stand 2 or 3 hours or until cucumbers are crisp and cold. Add more ice if it melts; drain. Add onions.

1 quart vinegar
4 cups sugar
1 tablespoon celery seeds
2 tablespoons mustard seeds
1 tablespoon ginger
t teaspoon turmeric (optional)
1/2 teaspoon white pepper (optional)

Combine the above - vinegar through the white pepper - in large kettle, and bring quickly to a boil, and boil 10 minutes.
Add cucumber and onion slices and bring to boiling point. I cook them until all the slices look translucent. I am usually making at least 2 batches at once so they don't cook evenly without a bit of help.) Pack at once in hot jars. ( I sterilize mine in the oven at 250 for at least 10 minutes, and turn the oven off) The recipe says to prosses in boiling water bath for 30 minutes. I don't do that. But otherwise, I follow this recipe to a T. Sometimes I have left out the turmeric or the pepper, but I didn't like them as well, and am back to the original recipe once more. The recipe says it makes 8 pints. I'm not sure of that. I only know I make them most every year because I LOVE to put them into potato salad. To me, itmakes potato salad. Otherwise, I don't even like to eat them, because to me, the only good pickles to eat are dill pickles, and the only ones of them I like are Milwaukee Dills from the grocery store. If you ever find a really crisp dill pickle recipe, send it to me, because I don't like "flabby" dills, and I am tired of trying recipes and not liking them.

Sometimes, if I have a bit more cucumbers than the recipe calls for, I make a double recipe of the cooked vinegar/sugar mixture with all the spices. I have thought at times that there was not enough "juice" for the pickles. Maybe though, it is just because I don't give them the boiling water bath that I try to be sure that juice covers the pickles.