Aunt Sylvia's Brownies

My Aunt Sylvia passed away yesterday, at the age of 96. She was the last of my aunts...the last of that generation. In honor of Aunt Sylvia, I thought I'd repost this entry from 2009. Aunt Sylia was always baking -- brownies, toll house cookies. I loved visiting her. Rest in Peace, Aunt Syl!

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I was rummaging through old recipes the other day, and I came across an envelope labeled Recipes in my mother's handwriting. There were several hand-written recipes, some in my Mother's writing, some in mine (when I was younger as the penmanship was much better), and some I wasn't sure about. However, in the envelope was the elusive recipe for my Aunt Sylvia's Brownies. I read through the recipe, and it just seems so simple, yet her brownies were always the BEST! Chewy, not cakey, crunchy on the top. Yum.

My Aunt Sylvia lived about 100 miles from us, so visiting was a whole day or overnight affair. I can still see her in her dress, high heels, and apron, pulling these brownies out of the oven in her state of the art 1950s kitchen in her just built mid-century modern ranch house. Shades of Mad Men. The family room and sun room had beautiful knotty pine panelling, the kitchen had dark green (not avocado but dark green) accents, with a glass kitchen table, with wrought iron base and padded wrought iron chairs. Maybe I'm confused on the details of that house on Green Street, but I can still remember the taste of those sensational brownies. They were a real treat!

AUNT SYLVIA'S BROWNIES

1/2 lb. butter (2 sticks)
2 cups sugar
{cream together}
4 eggs
1 cup Flour
2 tsp vanilla
4 sq chocolate (unsweetened) melted
1 cup Walnuts (optional)

There were no directions on how to mix anything together, but I think that was obvious.
The only direction was: Pour in Buttered Pan for about 30 minutes at 350 degrees.

These are Killer Brownies!