After tooting the horn of the benefits of dark chocolate, I thought that I would pass along a recipe that I found through www.sharffenberger.com Their company is located in San Francisco, CA and you can order their chocolate through their website. Their motto is "from bean to bar" which I thought was cute.

Brownies could very well be my favorite style of chocolate. Maybe hot cocoa? Maybe Godiva chocolate liqueor? Maybe I can't decide on a favorite, but there always seems to be a pan of brownies in the kitchen. My sister commented on this once. She said, "Every time I'm here, you guys have brownies on the counter." I hadn't noticed. Our favorite boxed brownies are the Betty Crocker frosted ones. They are very easy to make.

JOHN'S FAVORITE BROWNIES

6 ounces Scharffen Berger 70% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate
3/4 cup butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
3 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Heat oven to 325 F.

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler over simmering water.

Stir sugar into chocolate until blended. Add eggs and vanilla. Stir in flour and nuts. Spread into a buttered 13" x 9" baking pan.

Bake 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes up with crumbs (not batter). Cool in pan.

A little hint that I got from Nigella Lawson's show, is to melt chocolate in the microwave on low instead of a double boiler. It is a lot easier.

For a detailed explanation of how to make this recipe, go to Cooking for engineers which is a neat site that I read often to gain a new perspective on cooking. After cooking dinner after dinner night after night it is interesting to see the scientific aspect of cooking food and the site is complete with yummy photos as well. It also has a history of brownies as well. Cooking and learning. It is a fun site.