Nutella. Brownies. From scratch. I mean, does it get any better than that? These are the best brownies I’ve ever had. (Don’t tell my Gram I said that.) Anything that comes out of a box won’t compare to these. They are fairly easy to make, and you probably have all of the ingredients you need in your pantry. Everyone keeps Nutella around, right? Well, if you don’t, you should start now. 😉

Ingredients: 

• 1 1/2 sticks butter (I always use salted)
• 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 2 eggs
• 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup Nutella chocolate hazelnut spread

Preparation:

• Move your oven rack to the bottom third of the oven and preheat to 325F.
• Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat.
• Remove from heat and add sugar, cocoa powder, vanilla, salt, and baking powder and mix thoroughly. Let this cool a bit before moving to the next step.
• Move the ingredients to your stand mixer bowl or a large mixing bowl.
• Add eggs and beat until well-combined.
• Add flour and beat until well-combined, making sure to scrape the sides.
• Add Nutella and mix thoroughly.
• Pour batter into a parchment paper-lined and greased 8×8 pan and spread around evenly.
• Bake for 15 minutes, then remove the pan from the oven and let it rest for 15 minutes. (This is an Alton Brown tip!)
• Bake for 25 minutes more or until a toothpick comes out clean.
• Let the brownies cool.
• Remove the brownies by lifting the parchment paper out of the pan.
• Cut into 9 equal pieces (or more if you want smaller brownies – I am quite generous with mine).

Alton knows what he’s talking about. I don’t really know what those 15 minutes of rest time do for these bad boys, but it’s something magical. The centers are deliciously, melt-in-your-mouth ooey and gooey, and the outer edges are nice and sturdy.

These are great for any occasion, party, potluck, or holiday. You can add some red and green snowflake sprinkles for Christmas, red and pink hearts for Valentine’s Day, green shamrocks for St. Paddy’s. Let’s see, today is Thursday, so I believe I will enjoy these with nothing more than a cold glass of milk. We can celebrate Thursdays, yeah?

I found an excellent brownie recipe on cookieandkate.com, and I adjusted it slightly to make these little squares of perfection. This is now my go-to recipe for brownies. Sweeping proclamation – never will there ever be a boxed brownie mix in my house again. Thank you Kate and Alton, for making my first made-from-scratch brownie baking experience an awesome one.