I was directed to this page as I had baked the "Wicked Easy Fudge Brownies" and was disappointed by the lack of a crackly crust. I was told that the crust is a result of melting the butter and sugar together, even though the photo on that page shows a crackly crust. This was confirmed by your blog. I like the simplicity of that recipe and am wondering if the crust could have been accomplished if I melted the butter and sugar together before adding them to the rest of the ingredients. So why didn't I just use this particular recipe? When searching for a brownies recipe, I did come across this one but did not like the addition of chocolate chips. As I would like to try this recipe, I'm now wondering if the choc chips are essential to the result? Or are they there for extra decadence (would I need to add extra cocoa/sugar if I'm going to leave them out)? Also, I like nuts in my brownies. If I wanted to add chopped nuts, how much would you suggest adding? Lastly, I don't have a lot of people to share with. Does this recipe work well if it's halved? I'm guessing it goes into an 8 inch pan (9 inch if adding the nuts).

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