Five-Star Brownies

Total Time

Prep: 15 min. Bake: 30 min. + cooling

Makes

1 dozen

Updated: Oct. 20, 2022
There's a bit of my state's history behind these brownies' name and shape. In 1990, when I entered them at our state fair, Kansas was celebrating the 100th birthday of a famous native son, Dwight Eisenhower. In fact, that occasion was the theme of the fair. So I renamed my brownies, in honor of the rank he'd achieved as a general and cut them out with a star cookie cutter. They ended up winning a blue ribbon! —Pam Buerki Rogers, Victoria, Kansas
Five-Star Brownies Recipe photo by Taste of Home

Ingredients

  • 3 eggs
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1/2 cup butter, melted
  • 1/4 cup shortening, melted
  • 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  • 3/4 cup baking cocoa
  • 3/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup chopped nuts, optional

Directions

  1. In a large bowl, beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla until blended. Beat in butter and shortening until smooth. Combine the flour, cocoa and salt; gradually add to egg mixture. Stir in nuts if desired.
  2. Line a 13x9-in. baking pan with foil and grease the foil; pour batter into pan. Bake at 350° for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Cool in pan on a wire rack.
  3. Using foil, lift brownies out of pan. Discard foil. Cut brownies with a 3-in. star-shaped cookie cutter or into bars.

Nutrition Facts

1 brownie: 326 calories, 14g fat (6g saturated fat), 67mg cholesterol, 227mg sodium, 49g carbohydrate (34g sugars, 1g fiber), 4g protein.