Mmmmemorable Recipes

These Chocolate Chip Brownies are my Mom's recipe. I still have her hand-written recipe and hope to keep it until long after I have my own grandchildren, like she does now. A recipe from an on-line site is nice to bake, taste and experience through the flavor and smells. But following her recipe, and lingering over the slant of her cursive, or the way she put "2 six-ounce packages semi-sweet choc. chips" makes it more of a tradition to me. (Do they even make "six ounce packages" of Nestle chips anymore?) But to follow a recipe that is hand-written gives me another way to re-live those days when this was baked for my enjoyment as a young girl, ready to snap up any edible treat offered to me. These days, I do the offering, and my kids do the snapping. It's a nice circle, this baking across generations.

We're all looking for that recipe that will be remembered long after the dishes are cleaned, and the thank yous for the dinner party have been sent. Those hand-written recipes deep in your recipe binder - the one that's splitting at its seams - are a great way to start remembering that a good recipe is always a good recipe. Like this one.

Mom's Chocolate Chip Brownies

1c. sugar
3/4 c. unsalted butter (1 1/2 sticks), softened
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
2 c. all purpose flour, sifted
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2 six-ounce packages semi-sweet chocolate chips (or 12 oz, divided)
1/2 c. chopped walnuts or pecans (optional)

1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Beat sugar and butter in electric mixer until light and fluffy, about 4-5 mins.
3) Add eggs, one at a time, scraping between each addition. Then add vanilla.
4) Sift together flour, baking soda, salt and cinnamon, and stir into batter.
5) Remove bowl from mixer and fold in 6 oz of the chocolate chips, and nuts, if using.
6) Spread batter evenly into greased 9x13 pan. (I butter the pan, then line it with parchment, then I then butter again.
7) Sprinkle remaining 6 oz. of chips over top.
8) Bake for 30 mins, or until golden on top. Let cool completely before cutting into squares.
Enjoy!