Crave Wednesday: Classic Fudge Walnut Brownies

One of the benefits of having passes to Legoland is that on a random Sunday with no plans we can head over for a couple hours  at the water park.


It was our first time at Legoland's water park.  And of course we arrived right at naptime.  I had been counting on Thatbaby falling asleep in the car and bypassing this, but he didn't. So Thatboy and Thatkid headed into the waterpark while I walked Thatbaby around the park until he fell asleep.

When he woke up, he was ready to go play.  Because it's still early in the season, a lot of the waterpark was closed.  Three areas were open.  There were the big slides, which were great for Thatkid, but had too high a height requirement for Thatbaby, which was fine by him, because he was not interested in big slides anyway.

Another area for smaller kids - a wading pool with small slides was where he wanted to spend most of his time.  And even most of these slides were too fast/big for him.  Thatkid spend some time with us, but really, it was a little young for him.  So we ended up dividing the kids so each could enjoy the part of the park made for them.

The third area, between the two, was perfect for both boys - the Goldilocks part of the water park.  This is part of the new "Surfer's Cove" the rest of which is set to open this summer.  This was just a splash pad, but there's no such thing as "just" anything with kids.  They loved running back and forth through the fountains.

The center area also has a lazy river.  Thatbaby went back and forth on wanting to go on it, but eventually decided he'd rather spend his time at the wading pool area instead.  So Thatkid and I went for a couple of rounds.

The boys had a great time and I have no doubt we'll be back over the summer a lot.  And the nice thing about passes is that we could go for a bit and still be home in time for dinner.  And dessert.  Buoyed by my success with the brownie turtle sundae, I thought maybe I'd give brownies a shot.   These would be really really good...if they were made by someone else.  I really haven't figured out the balance, but I'm sure you'll have better luck than I - most people do.  And a classic brownie with walnuts is a pretty good recipe to keep in your back pocket, so I'll keep trying!

Classic Fudge Walnut Brownies (From Cooking Light)

3/4 cup flour

1 cup sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 cup bittersweet chocolate chunks, divided

1/3 cup fat free milk

6 Tbsp butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1. Preheat oven to 350. Combine flour, sugar, cocoa, brown sugar, baking powder, and salt in a large bowl.
2. Combine 1/2 cup chocolate chunks and milk in a microwave safe bowl and microwave at HIGH for 1 minute, stirring after 30 seconds. 
3. Stir in butter, vanilla, and eggs.
4. Add milk mixture, 1/2 cup chocolate chunks, and 1/4 cup nuts to flour mixture. Stir to combine.
5. Pour batter into a 9 inch square metal baking pan coated with cooking spray.  Sprinkle with 1/4 cup nuts.  Bake for 19 minutes or until a wooden pick inserted into the center comes out with moist crumbs clinging.  Cool in pan on a wire rack.  Cut into 20 pieces.