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1 cup butter (since this is sinfully rich, go ahead and use butter), which is about 200 grams.
1/2 cup dry cocoa
1 cup water
2 cups sifted flour
2 cups granulated sugar (1 3/4 cups if you don't want them to be too sweet)
1 teaspoon soda (for the Germans: Natron)
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 slightly beaten eggs
1/2 cup buttermilk (don't drink the rest yet, you need more for the frosting!)
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla (or subsititute 2 teaspoons of the sugar above with
vanilla sugar)
Take a pot and combine the water, cocoa and butter. Bring to a boil while stirring constantly, then remove from the heat.
In a large bowl, sift together the flour, sugar, soda and salt - this mixes the ingredients well. In a small bowl blend the eggs, buttermilk and vanilla (unless you used the vanilla sugar). Add to the flour mixture and just blend. Now add the cocoa mixture and blend. Don't stir too much, or it won't be as light as it should.
Grease an oven pan (about 1 inch deep, 15x10) and pour in the batter. Bake at 190° C (375° F) for 20 minutes. Meanwhile, make the frosting by putting
1/4 cup butter (this is the 50 grams left from the butter you used above)
3 tablespoons of buttermilk
3 tablespoons of cocoa
in your pot again, cooking and stirring until boiling. Add 2 1/4 cups confectioner' sugar (Puderzucker, this is 1 1/2 boxes), 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla (or your favorite schnapps, unless this is for a church picnic) and 1/2 cup chopped walnuts.
As soon as the brownies come out of the oven (it's done when a toothpick in the center comes out clean), spread the frosting over the top. It will melt and cover the brownies evenly. Cool. Cut into bars. Makes 50-60, depending on how small you cut them.
Don't even begin to think of the calories in this stuff. But they are just divine!
This recipe is adapted from the old Better Homes & Gardens cookbook that was given to me as a wedding present in 1976. My Grandmother used to love this cookbook, and by the looks of mine, all spattered and torn, you can see that I love it too. I bought their new cookbook a couple of years back, tried a few of the recipes, had to rewrite them to make them work, so it pretty much just sits there and takes up space in my cookbook collection. But this old cookbook taught me how to cook American food - which is much, much more than hamburgers and a sickly sweet brown carbonated drink.