Super easy to make, and a neat flavor. Not really a "kid" flavor, kind of an adult twist on a classic.

These are FABULOUS! I am eating a warm one while I type...

Or, more simply, leavening is what makes bakes goods rise. If you've ever baked something and it turned out flat, you probably left out the leavener or the leavener you used was stale (baking soda or powder) or expired (yeast).

Baking Soda, Baking Powder and yeast are typical leaveners. A leavening agent (sometimes called just leavening or leaven) is a substance used in doughs and batters that causes a foaming action intended to lighten and soften the finished product. The leavening agent reacts with moisture, heat, acidity, or other triggers to produce gas (usually carbon dioxide and sometimes ethanol) that becomes trapped as bubbles within the dough. When a dough or batter is mixed, the starch in the flour mixes with the water in the dough to form a matrix (often supported further by proteins like gluten or other polysaccharides like pentosans or xanthan gum), then gelatinizes and "sets"; the holes left by the gas bubbles remain.

I'm a newbie...so I apologize if this is a silly question: What's leavening?

There are two kinds of brownies - cake and fudge. Cake brownies have leavening, fudge do not.

This link has an amazing assortment of cocoa http://www.cocoasupply.com/index.php?cPath=22

Dutch-process cocoa has been treated with an alkali (baking soda), so maybe that is all the recipe requires, instead of extra leaveners on top of that.

Where can I buy Dutch-process cocoa powder? My grocery store does not carry it.

I have noticed that almost all of Martha's brownie recipes do not call for baking soda or baking powder. I do alot of baking and my fav recipe does call for baking powder. Can someone explain.