Cooking with Austin

I started cooking with Austin, my firstborn grandson, when he was about three years old. Prior to that he would sit in his high chair in the kitchen and both Papi and I would cook, and talk, and laugh, and play HaDah (Austin’s word for banging on the pots and pans with a drum stick), and just have a grand old time while making dinner. When he was old enough to stand on the chair to reach the kitchen counter and help, we bought him his first set of knives. (I know you are shocked; so was our daughter. They were plastic from the dollar store, so it all turned out okay.)

And so it began….To this day Austin likes to cook, and he’s 15 now. A couple of weeks ago, he came over and asked if he could make brownies. I’ve been making these bodacious brownies for that boy since he could walk. Here’s the recipe; you might want to double it. They don’t last long, especially with teenagers.

Bodacious Brownies

2 cups sugar
1/2 cup cocoa powder
3/4 cup flour
1 tsp instant espresso
1/2 tsp salt
2 sticks butter, melted
4 eggs, beaten
1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter the bottom of a 9″ x 9″ pan. Whisk dry ingredients together. Add eggs and vanilla to dry ingredients. Do not overmix. Stir in flour. Pour into prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes. Let cool completely. Dig in.