Nutella Brownie Caper

I bought a jar of Nutella recently and I found a recipe to use it.



Nutella Brownies

• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour (unbleached)
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 2 eggs
• 1 cup nutella
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted, room temperature

Directions

1. Put rack in center of the oven. Preheat oven at 325°F Put parchment paper in the bottom of a 9 inch square pan (but taking care to let exceed a strip of parchment paper on each side (2 sides) and butter the two other sides).
2. In a bowl, mix flour and salt. Set aside.
3. In another bowl, with an electric mixer, beat eggs, nutella, brown sugar and vanilla until the mixture is creamy and homogeneous, about 2 minutes. At low speed, add dry ingredients alternating with melted butter.
4. Spread in the pan. Cook 35 to 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of cake comes out with lumps and not completely clean.
5. Let cool in the pan about 2 hours. Remove from pan and cut in squares.



The next day, I daydreamed all day about these fabulous brownies. They were moist, rich, and fudgy - just the way I like them. And even better, the chocolate came from Nutella, one of my favorite chocolate treats. And they were perfect alone and with a scoop of ice cream. I couldn't wait to have them for dessert all week!

So as you might imagine, I was a bit upset to come home from work and discover this:



An empty brownie pan.

Where did they go? Who ate them?

Here's a clue. A single hair.



The culprit?



Grr...Bad dog, bad dog!!

Scott had the day off, so Snowbird was out of his crate. Scott was outside mowing the lawn and Snowbird was alone in the kitchen. Apparently, the temptation was too much. I had the pan in a spot where I've kept baked goods before without problems. Snowbird was just particularly ambitious today.

Of course, Scott did reveal that he had eaten 1 or 2 brownies with his lunch. So I wonder...was the dog really guilty after all? Perhaps he was framed! :-)

(Don't worry, Snowbird didn't get sick. He has a cast-iron stomach. He even ate four mice/rats/gophers without getting sick).