Happy Halloween, dear readers! I hope you all had a day filled with magic, mystery, and (of course) delicious food. Here is a festive fall recipe to celebrate the day.

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Ever find yourself in a pinch where you just NEED brownies (I mean… NEED!) but you only have cocoa powder on hand? Do not despair!! I only had some lovely, rich, Dutch-process cocoa powder on hand the other day, when the need for brownies completely overcame me. Luckily, I came across this stellar recipe. I cannot recommend it highly enough. A little tweaking, and voila!! Deliciously rich, chewy, dark cocoa brownies. Enjoy!

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My sweet friend recently lent me her family’s old cookbooks to peruse. I love the cookbooks, but my favorite thing is seeing which little slips of paper and newspaper clippings people stuff inside these old cookbooks. These are some of the greatest recipes in my family’s cookbooks, so I made sure to copy down some of my friend’s too! Here is a great one I found – enjoy!

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Uuuhhh, looks a little scrummie if you ask me . . .

Here is my Auntie Moo Moo Chocolate Pudding Scrummie. Back in the 1950s, she would make this dessert for her three daughters so that they could have a special treat when they came home from school.

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Christmas gift exchange in elementary school when I was in Third Grade. We all brought in small, generic gifts. Then we drew the name of a classmate and exchanged gifts with them. I still have the gift that I got: the Gold Medal Alpha-Bakery Cookbook!

There is a recipe for every letter of the alphabet from Apple Crisp to Zebra Cookies. Well, F is for Fudge Brownies, and my go-to brownie recipe for the past 20 years has evolved from the recipe found in this fun cookbook.

I make these all the time – they are so delicious and turn out perfectly every single time. They are rich, fudgy, and oh-so-satisfying when you need that little chocolate fix! The tops and edges are crusty, crumbly, chewy, and sweet, the insides are gooey, rich, fudgy heaven. Studded with white chocolate chunks and toasted walnut pieces? Oh, yes please! The perfect combination of textures and flavors for the most amazing brownie ever. In my humble opinion.

Fudge Brownies
Adapted from the Alpha-Bakery Children’s Cookbook

1 12-ounce package semi-sweet chocolate chips (I prefer Tollhouse in this recipe)
1 stick butter
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 2/3 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 eggs
2 tablespoons milk or half-and-half
1 cup walnuts or pecans, chopped (optional)
1/2 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9×13 inch baking pan.

Melt chips and butter in a pot over low heat. Remove from heat, add sugar, flour, salt and baking powder – the dough will be stiff. Then add vanilla and eggs. Add nuts or more chips if desired and then bake in prepared pan for 25-30 minutes.