Heat oven to 325 degrees F and grease an 8-inch cake pan or pie plate.
Mix butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and salt in a medium bowl.
Stir in flour, cocoa powder, and nuts.
Pour into prepared pan and bake for 25-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted halfway between the center and the edge comes out clean. Time will depend partly on the size of your pan.
As soon as the brownie comes out of the oven, poke it all over with a skewer or fork. Spread the fudge sauce over the brownie and let cool completely.
Whipped Cream
For stabilized whipped cream, combine gelatin and water in a small saucepan and let sit until thick.
Melt gelatin over low heat, stirring constantly. Once melted, remove from heat and cool slightly.
While gelatin cools, whip cream and powdered sugar until soft peaks form. Add vanilla. (At this point, for regular whipped cream, whip a little longer until stiff peaks and use immediately.)
Beating slowly, gradually add the cooled gelatin mixture to the whipped cream. It will start to look a little curdled, but beat at low to medium speed just until combine and peaks are stiff.
Spread or pipe onto cooled brownie base.
Serve with shaved chocolate or additional hot fudge sauce.
Store in refrigerator.
Recipe Notes
Use any nuts you like, or substitute with any flavor of chocolate chips.
Jarred or homemade hot fudge sauce works great. Experiment with flavors. Try caramel sauce, or chocolate-mint fudge sauce instead.
Use Cool Whip in place of whipped cream.
Or flavor your whipped cream with any extract you like. Enhance with food color if desired. Think mint, strawberry, etc.
