Mexican Brownies

We had some friends over for dinner over the weekend. I had not seen these friends in a long time and wanted to spend plenty of time with them. That meant making a meal that required little fuss. I put a huge pork roast in the oven early in the afternoon and prepared (with help from Rick) a butternut squash and potato gratin. Those things basically cooked themselves while we chatted with our friends over wine and smoked salmon spread on crackers.

Early in the day I made a batch of Mexican brownies. Here's the easy-peasy recipe:

1/2 cup butter, melted
2 cups sugar
1 cup flour
2/3 cup cocoa
1 TBS cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
2 eggs
1/2 cup milk
2 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped walnuts

Stir into the melted butter, the sugar, flour, cocoa, cinnamon, baking powder, milk and vanilla until well combined. Stir in walnuts. Spread in greased 13 x 9 pan. Bake at 350 for about 40 minutes.

For the frosting: in a heavy saucepan, melt 2 cups of semi-sweet chocolate chips with 1 can (14 oz) of sweetened condensed milk, stirring frequently. Remove from heat and stir in 2 tsp vanilla. Spread on hot brownies.

I served these with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and whipped cream -- a make-your-own sundae dessert! It was a big hit.