Simple. Quick.  Chocolatey. Kid-pleasing. Mindy Classics.

Two of our children are living in Israel. I am anxious, though  I know they are where they need to be. Our daughter is in Jerusalem. Our son is living on a kibbutz in the north awaiting his army placement. He asked me a few weeks ago for some recipes. I keep playing with this blog – writing, sometimes posting, thinking about what I want it to be and rarely moving past the resistance to make this me. So, today I start and I start with something basic, something easy, something those of you who know me will know as a Mindy classic dessert – brownies.

I usually like to experiment with different ingredients, but part of the joy of this recipe is its simplicity. Instead, I decided to experiment with the process. My aim was for a gooey brownie that I could still cut and serve. I made three batches of the brownies. For the first batch,  I beat the eggs and oil together until they were well mixed and a bit fluffy and then added the dry ingredients. For the second batch, I added the ingredients as they were listed in the recipe only mixing everything at the end. In both cases, I added the chocolate chips after I had mixed  everything. With the third batch, I put the dry ingredients in the bowl, and mixed the liquid ingredients in a large measuring cup. I then added the liquid mixture to the bowl. Using a large measuring cup allowed me to keep the number of dirty dishes the same in each process.

In all cases, I stuck to one mixing bowl, a glass measuring cup, dry measuring cups and spoons.  I also let the eggs sit out for 30 minutes to warm up a little. I baked them for 25 minutes in my oven using the convection setting.

When you mix the eggs and oil first and then add the dry ingredients, you get a lighter batter with more air bubbles. The brownie was more cakey at the ends, and only a little gooey in the middle. It was the driest of all the batches.

This time I combined the two processes. In the big bowl, I put all the dry ingredients. Next I put the oil in a four cup measuring cup, then added the eggs and beat the oil and eggs together. I added the vanilla to the egg/oil mix. Then I added this mixture to the dry ingredients. Of course, I almost forgot to add the chocolate chips, with the last batch, so I added them to the top. This method produced the Goldilocks of brownies – not too dry and not too gooey, though they were closer to the gooey side than the dry side. These are the brownies going to our friends so I better pack them up before they get eaten!

Resources: My favorite parve chocolate chips are Chocolate Dream semi-sweet baking chips by the Hain Celestial Group. I also like the Enjoy Life semi-sweet chocolate mini-chips. Both a parve and vegan. The Enjoy Life chips are also soy free.

One  Bowl Brownies

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan. The original recipe basically says combine all the ingredients in one bowl, pour into the pan and then bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. For a drier brownie, beat the eggs and oil in the bowl and then add the dry ingredients. For a more gooey, but not super gooey brownie – put the dry ingredients in the bowl and mix the oil and eggs together in a separate measuring cup/bowl, then add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients.