Brownies...further musings on a subject near to my heart

I've been conducting extensive testing recently...on brownies.  I've made different batches of the "melted chocolate" variety - for which I have earlier shared the recipe.  I believe, for my tastes, I have perfected the "melted chocolate" variety.  Many folks have tried them and loved them, so I'm happy with where that is at. 

However there is another whole class of brownies - the "cocoa" brownies.  These are more like the "packet mix" brownies I remember eating when I was growing up, and have a different (in fact, cakier) consistency.  I'm a declared chewy brownie fan, but have found a recipe that has that ephemeral "sort of cakey sort of chewy" consistency.  These are good when you really need brownies fast and don't have any chocolate in the house...they are a slightly (ever so) lighter style of brownie (to which I am referring only and exclusively to texture...I'm sure these pack a caloric punch just like the other ones). I can't profess to have perfected these yet, but they are damn good.  I thank, as always, Nigella for her inspiration though I have slightly modified her recipe.

Brownies:

Ingredients

3/4 cup salted butter (the best quality you can find)
1 1/2 cups white sugar
1 cup cocoa powder
1 cup flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 pinch salt
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla

Preheat oven to 375 degrees and spray a 9 x 13 pan with baking spray.

In a large bowl, combine melted butter with the sugar, and mix well.  Add the cocoa, flour, baking soda and salt.
Break the first egg into the batter, and stir through until incorporated.  Add the second and third eggs the same way.  Add the vanilla with the third egg.
If you want to add nuts, this is the point that you should.  About half a cup of nuts should suffice, but I think they are an abomination in brownies so would recommend you test this out yourself.
Pour into the pan and bake for 20 to 25 minutes. The edges should be firm and the middle should be slightly sunk - don't over bake them or they really do go cakey.

And we know what I think about that.  Bleh.

A glass of milk is a nice accompaniment, and sometimes you just need a fork and the entire pan.  Sigh.  Depends on your day.  These are great under ice cream in a sundae, and are robust enough to stir through ice cream and hold their shape (if you were say, homesick and missing Ben & Jerry's Brownie Fudge ice cream and decided to replicate it).