Coffee Mug Brownies

This recipe was inspired by our neighbor Chirley, who always has gobs of coffee cups on her garage sales. She has so many cups that she is forever trying to send a box full of them home or to the General with me when I stop by. For that reason, I'm constantly trying to think of uses for those poor mugs without a home. I kept seeing these microwave coffee mug brownie recipes pop up all over the blogosphere as I was looking for inspiration for simple homemade Christmas gifts. So...I thought, why not combine Chirley's orphaned mugs, a simple recipe and some great ingredients for a deliciously yummy gift. For those of you that don't live down-the-road from Chirley, it's a great use for any old mismatched or tired mug lurking in the back of your cabinet.

Ingredients:
4 T flour
4-6 T raw sugar (depending on how sweet you like your chocolate)
1/8 t baking soda
2 T cocoa powder
2 T vegetable oil
1 T butter
3 T milk
dash of vanilla
pinch of salt

Utensils:
1 Microwave safe coffee mug approximately 8-10 oz.
measuring spoons
fork or small whisk

Directions:
whisk together dry ingredients
mix in wet ingredients
microwave 1-2 minutes depending on your microwave strength. Ours is a small 700W and I do 1:30 so the mixture is still slightly liquid at the bottom somewhat like a lava cake. There's no egg, so no worries about perfect doneness.
As a gift, package the mug and dry ingredients with instructions on adding the wet ingredients and cooking.

Interested in fancying it up a bit? Add a T of dried cherries or cranberries, nuts, peanut butter, caramel, chocolate chips or a sprinkle of cinnamon.

P.S. I'd love to post a pic of the one Ella and I just devoured, but I can't find my phone.