Basic Brownies

Ingredients
(makes 16 squares)

1/2 cup butter, melted
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1-2 cup chocolate chips (semisweet, white, butterscotch, peanut butter) or raisins or chopped maraschino cherries or nuts ( optional )

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8 inch square pan or line with foil. ( if recipe is doubled use - 9 x 13 inch pan).In a medium bowl combine melted butter and cocoa and stir until cocoa is dissolved. Add sugar and mix well. Add eggs one at a time and stir until well combined. Stir in vanilla, flour and salt until you no longer see any flour (do not overmix). Fold in optional ingredients.Spread in pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes. DO NOT OVER-BAKE -- your brownies will come out dry. Adjust time/temp accordingly for your oven. If you do the knife/toothpick test, it should come out with moist crumbs, not clean. Cool completely before cutting into squares.