I don’t know about you, but I have a love-hate relationship with brownies. I want to love them, but am so often disappointed by the reality of them. I’ve tried lots of recipes … and I mean lots, and have never found one that really did it for me. Until now.

These brownies are so good I just had to share. As you can see, they’re very dense and moist – not cake-like at all, which is what I like in a brownie. If I wanted chocolate cake, I’d make cake. I want the texture to be dense, but moist and not so heavy that you feel like you can’t chew the darned thing! I adapted the recipe from the Cheyenne Frontier Days Daddy of ‘em All Cookbook.

World-Famous Brownies

• 1/2 cup butter
• 1 cup cold water
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup buttermilk
• 2 eggs, beaten

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Combine butter, cold water, oil, and cocoa in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil. Combine flour and sugar in a bowl and combine with chocolate mixture after it comes to a boil. Mix well. Add baking soda, salt, vanilla, buttermilk, and eggs. Pour into greased 9×13 pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes or until it tests done (mine took 35 minutes). While brownies are baking, make glaze.

World-famous Brownie Glaze

• 1/2 cup butter
• 6 tbsp espresso or strong coffee
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 1 pound powdered sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup chopped nuts (optional – I omitted them)

Combine butter, coffee, and cocoa in a heavy saucepan. Bring to a boil and boil slowly for 1-2 minutes, remove from heat. Pour chocolate mixture into a bowl of a stand mixer (you can use a hand mixer too) and add powdered sugar and vanilla. Mix well until glaze is very smooth. Add nuts if you are using them. Pour over warm brownies right after you remove them from the oven. Let cool completely in the pan before you cut them (or the glaze won’t be set up). Enjoy with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a cup of coffee.