When I was seven years old, my mom quit her job to stay home with me. It was a big decision for the family, since we were already pretty poor, but I'm so grateful to her for making that sacrifice. I was kind of a pudgy, anxious kid who was too shy for her own good--I always had one super best friend and was basically too scared to talk to anyone else. Having my mom around a lot more really helped bring me out of my shell--if there's one thing Smita Paliwal knows well, it's how to raise someone's confidence. I spent a lot of the third grade skipping school and generally hanging out with my mom--going to flea markets and taking walks along a creek near my house. One of my favorite mom-daughter activities were our "sleepovers," during which we would bake box brownies and watch british comedies late into the night (our favorite was Are You Being Served). So, belatedly in honor of mother's day and also because I've been craving American-style brownies, here's a simple recipe for some delightfully fudgy brownies, dedicated to Mama Paliwal.
Prep Time: 10 mins
Cook time: 30 mins
Ingredients:
Instructions:
1. Preheat the oven to 350° F (175° C). Put the 250g butter and 2 cups sugar into a saucepan and melt together on low heat, stirring occasionally until it starts to bubble and is well blended.-
Beat the 4 eggs and add to the butter+sugar mixture. Add in the 1 Tbsp vanilla extract and beat until smooth.
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In a separate bowl, stir together the 1¼ cups cocoa powder, 1½ cups all-purpose flour,½ tsp salt, 1 tsp baking powder, all the chocolate chips and the walnuts.
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Pour in the butter mixture and stir until well-mixed. Grease a 9x13in pan (22x33cm) and pour in the batter. Pop it into the oven and bake for 30 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Let cool and cut into squares.