This weekend was one of my best friend’s birthdays. Instead of buying him a gift, I decided to make him brownies. I thought that that was a fun way to celebrate his birthday, and also show my appreciation for him!

By now my friends know that when I start bringing stuff out to the kitchen, I’m going to be baking. Everyone hung out around the kitchen, waiting for my brownies to cook. Luckily they only take about 20 minutes to cook in the oven, and only about 10 minutes to mix together. So my friends didn’t have to wait too long (it usually takes upwards of an hour to bake brownies).

It was very easy for me to make the brownies. I simply used the Betty Crocker Fudgy brownie mix that I got from Louie’s and followed the recipe. I cracked open two eggs and mixed them together. Then I added a quarter of the brownie mix. Then I added 3 tablespoons of water. Then I mixed in about half of the brownie mix. Finally, I added 1/3 cup oil and then mixed in the last quarter of the mix. It should be thicker than usual, which makes it a lot more fudgy. I  heated the oven to 350 degrees and then put the brownies in for 18 minutes. They came out perfectly; however I always recommend testing the brownies by sticking a toothpick (or in my case a knife) into the center and making sure it comes out clean.

So I did something a little different with my brownies this time. Normally, I use three eggs and make the brownies more cake-like. However this weekend, I decided to use two eggs and the brownies were a lot thicker. They were more difficult to mix, because it was more dry than normal brownie mix (with a third egg there is more liquid, from the yolk and egg whites, which makes the mix more liquidy and ultimately easier to mix). And I’m always concerned about undercooking my brownies, however when they came out of the oven, I used a knife to test them and it came out clean. These brownies were still very fudgy and a little more liquidy. However, they were not undercooked, just baked a little differently.

I had a lot of fun baking brownies, and thought that it was less expensive and more meaningful if I baked brownies than if we went out to get ice cream (which was the original plan). I would always recommend baking as a gift for someone; it’s truly a kind thing to do and anyone would appreciate home baked goods.