chocolatey almond goodness

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When it comes to family gatherings I'm the dessert girl, so this Easter I made some simple brownies to satisfy my family's sweet tooth cravings. As I was hurriedly making them on Sunday morning I realized I was out of vanilla extract (great!). As I muttered to myself the Hubs suggested trying almond extract as a replacement (good idea!). Turns out it was a great idea. I switched out the walnuts for almonds and I think this is my new favourite twist on my go-to brownie recipe from The Clueless Baker: Baking from Scratch - Easy as Pie by Evelyn Raab. Here it is if you want to try:

You'll need:

• 4 squares unsweetened chocolate (Baker's chocolates)
• 3/4 cup butter
• 1.5 cups granulated sugar
• 3 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla (I substituted 1 tsp almond extract)
• 3/4 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup walnuts (I substituted almond slivers)

Then you:

1. Preheat oven to 350F
2. Melt together chocolate and butter over medium heat in a large pot, remove from heat and let cool slightly
3. With an electric mixer on low speed beat in the sugar, then eggs and vanilla (or almond extract)
4. Stir in the flour, then add the chocolate chips and walnuts (or almonds)
5. Pour batter into a greased baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes (don't overbake, they're supposed to be a bit fudgy)

Yummy chocolate!