Farm Journal's Brownies for a Crowd

Just the mention of Farm Journal and my mind/memory go back to when I was growing up.  Each time the magazine would come, it was fun to look at their recipe section to see what good cooks (besides my mom!), were making.  I don't know how/when the recipe section was discontinued, but I do know it seems like AGES since I've 'gone down that lane'.  My memory was jogged while I was in Qualheim's True Value yesterday to buy milk replacer and mineral for our  cattle-- there on a rack were recipe books filled with old recipes (some dating back to 1931) from the food section of the Farm Journal's I remember.

One of the many popular recipes 'from those days' is for this large pan of brownies.  My husband (these days, my main tester person) said he likes these because they seem like a 'cross' between brownies and chocolate cake.  He likes that they aren't overly 'heavy' with chocolate flavor, something others wouldn't like.  What do I think?  I like them-- they are moist, they have chocolate in 'em and, as a result, they are dark brown!  This will be an easy kind of keeper recipe for me.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup regular margarine (my choice is to use butter, which I did)
• 1 cup sugar
• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 and 1/2 cups of chocolate syrup* (the recipe I followed for 'copy cat' Hershey's chocolate syrup is at bottom of this post)
• 1 cup PLUS 1 tablespoon sifted flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts

DIRECTIONS:

1. Beat the margarine (butter!) with the sugar until light and fluffy.
2. Beat in eggs, two (one) at a time.
3. Add vanilla.  Mix very well.
4. Stir in chocolate syrup.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder and salt; stir this into the chocolate mixture.  Mix only until well incorporated.
6. Add chopped nuts.
7. Pour into well-greased 15½ x 10½ x 1" jelly roll pan, and spread evenly.  (For beauty/ease in cutting and transferring to a serving plate, I prefer to spray pan very lightly, line with foil or parchment paper and spray that... and,... then, pour batter in-- yep!, after all that 'monkey business', they easily lift out to cutting board when cooled.)
8. Bake in moderate oven (350°) for 22-25 minutes, or until slight imprint remains when touched very lightly with finger.  (With my oven, it took almost 27 minutes.)
9. Remove pan to cooling rack (or to a cold porch!), and allow to cool.

Old-fashioned Chocolate Icing:
Meanwhile, ...even if this recipe sounds 'weird', for a thin sort of 'old-fashioned' kind of smooth/self-leveling icing, do this:

1. Combine 6 tablespoons of margarine (I used butter), 6 tablespoons of milk (equals 1/3 cup plus 2 teaspoons), and 1 cup sugar in a 3 qt. saucepan. Stir until very blended. 
2. Bring to a boil and boil for 30 seconds (I boiled mine for 2 minutes).
3. Add 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips; remove from heat and stir to melt.
4. Continue stirring until mixture thickens slightly and cools down a bit (For this, I used an electric hand mixer and beat it for close to five minutes.) 
5. Add 1 teaspoon vanilla, stir well. 
6. Pour icing over cooled pan of Brownies.  Cool all, again, until icing sets up.  Cut into 2.5" x 1" bars-- makes 3 dozen.

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I adapted a recipe from CopyKat to make this Hershey's Chocolate Syprup as below: 

First, why would I bother making my own when it's so readily available in store-bought containers?  Because the first ingredient on their label these days is HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP-- that's a good enough reason for me to get mixin' and boilin'!  Don't get me wrong, it isn't that I refuse EVERYTHING that has 'that kind of corn syrup' in it, but I try not to add it to anything if there's another choice.  So, having explained that, here goes....

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Hershey's cocoa
• 2 cups sugar
• 1 and 3/4 cups water
• 2 dashes salt
• 2 teaspoons vanilla

Directions:

1. Combine cocoa, sugar and salt in 3 quart saucepan.
2. Add water, and whisk until very smooth/blended.
3. Bring this mixture to a boil, stirring/watching carefully.
4. Allow it to boil for 3 minutes.  Be careful/watchful because this can easily boil over.
5. Remove from heat; after it cools a bit, add vanilla and refrigerate.  It will thicken some more as it cools.