I went to high school in a very small town (pop 600). We had great country cooks in our school lunchroom who prepared fresh vegetables
every day from local farms. (I don’t remember the meats, but there must have been some.)
And to top it off they always accompanied the meal with a homemade brownie. This brownie was circulated all over South Georgia, maybe
beyond, and became known as
“Lunchroom Ladies Brownies”!
This month we would like to share this delicious chewy brownie recipe with
you….I hope it brings back some warm sweet brownie school memories!!!!
Lunchroom Ladies Brownies
(A very old popular recipe among school
lunch rooms across the country.)
Brownies:
1 cup “real”
butter (salted butter preferred), melted
½ cup Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups all-purpose flour
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large
eggs, lightly beaten
4 tsp. pure vanilla
1 cup chopped pecans (optional)
Frosting:
¼ cup salted butter, softened
¼ cup whole milk
¼ cup Hershey’s unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. vanilla
3 cups powdered sugar
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9x13 baking pan or baking dish with parchment paper or foil and spray it with cooking spray. Set aside. In a large bowl, whisk the melted butter and cocoa powder together until smooth. Add the remaining ingredients, all at once and stir well with a rubber spatula (not the whisk because it will get all gunked up) until ingredients are well incorporated and smooth. It will be real thick.
Pour into the prepared pan, spread evenly and bake for about 22 to 25 minutes. Check at 23 minutes with a toothpick in the center. There should be a little bit of crumb that sticks to the toothpick. Meanwhile, using electric mixer, beat the frosting ingredients together until smooth.
Remove the brownies from the oven and let stand on a wire cooling
rack for 15 minutes before frosting. While still warm, not hot, spoon the frosting evenly and carefully spread, using
a light touch. I use a small offset metal spatula. They should be warm at this point and will melt the frosting, making it easy to
spread. Let cool completely before cutting into desired sizes..