I made brownies at work with the kiddos today, and they turned out so well that I copied out the recipe to take home. The cookbook was one of those church-published jobbies (by the Main Centre Mennonite Brethren Church, in bustling Main Centre, Saskatchewan — last reported census population zero). The recipe looked pretty good on its own, but I can’t leave well enough alone, and so I include my modifications in italics, below:

Best Brownies

Ingredients:

1 cup sugar
1 egg
1/4 cup melted butter
2 Tbsp cocoa
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts
1/2 cup flour
1 tsp cinnamon
pinch salt
chocolate chips

Mix all of the ingredients except the chocolate chips together in a bowl. Spread batter into a greased 9×9 pan (or smaller if you’d like thicker brownies) and sprinkle with chocolate chips.

Bake at 350F until done, about 25 minutes in a metal pan or 30 in glass. Dust with icing sugar before serving.

I made these with nuts at work and without at home — yes, they were so good I made them twice today — and they are equally decadent in either form. The cinnamon pairs beautifully with the cocoa, and I’m surprised that more recipes don’t use them together. Note that these are a bugger to get out of the pan, even when it’s greased; maybe more flour would fix it? If not, feel free to do like I do and eat the pan-scrapings with a spoon.

Enjoy!