4 March 2014
Welcome friends. I know there are some very good brownie mixes out there and a lot of people like them because they are "so easy." Well guess what, brownies made from scratch are also easy to make. There is also a good chance, if you like chocolate, that you already have the ingredients.
I once had a "go to" brownie recipe and during a "get-fit" and "eat-healthy" phase, decided to throw the recipe out. Big mistake! I really love brownies. I was never able to recreate it from memory and have bounced around from recipe to recipe in my brownie quest. I don't like brownies with frosting and the first recipe that I tried was one with a frosting. I made them without the frosting, but they didn't have enough chocolate. I've made a lot a recipes that were disappointments, so I won't list them all. I have also made some of the brownie recipes attributed to Katherine Hepburn. You can find one of those on the
After a while, I also decided that I didn't need to pursue any recipes that used more than a stick of butter to make and 8 by 8 pan of brownies. There are many recipes that fall into this category. I do love butter, but that seemed like a generous amount. Eventually, I saw a recipe on the
These brownies are for people who like dark chocolate. My favorite combination is cocoa powder (like valrhona) and bittersweet chocolate chips (like ghirardelli's 60% cacao). I know that I should test the recipe with other brands of cocoa that are easier to find, but I've had good luck ordering a couple of containers from their website. There is some debate about what causes the crinkled top. I think it is a combination of a generous amount of sugar and melting the chocolate.
My Favorite Brownies
30 min. prep time | 35 min. bake time
Ingredients
makes 9 brownies
- 8 Tbl unsalted butter
- 4 oz (2/3 cup) bittersweet chocolate (chips or roughly chopped baking bar)
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 Tbl light brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp kahlua
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup flour
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 3 Tbl cocoa powder
Directions
preheat the oven to 350° F.
cut the butter into sections about the size of a tablespoon. Cut each section into 2 pieces. Place the butter in a small heat-proof bowl. Choose a bowl large enough to set over a small saucepan. Use the butter wrapper to lightly butter the bottom and sides of an 8 by 8 baking dish.
place a cup of water in the saucepan and bring to a simmer over medium heat. Place the bowl over the water and allow the butter to melt. When most of the butter has melted, add the chocolate to the bowl, and reduce the heat slightly. Stir the mixture constantly with a rubber spatula. I use bittersweet, but you can use semisweet or a combination of chocolates. Once the chocolate has melted, turn off the heat and set the bowl on the counter to cool briefly.
whisk together the eggs, salt, sugars, kahlua, and vanilla extract in a medium sized bowl. Add about half of the chocolate mixture and stir with the whisk until combined.
add the flour, baking powder, and cocoa powder (I use valrhona cocoa powder). Stir with the whisk to combine. Add the rest of the chocolate mixture and stir with the whisk to blend it into the mixture.
pour the batter into the buttered baking dish. Spread the batter evenly around the dish and smooth the top. Gently tap the dish on the counter a few times. Place the dish in the oven. I like a rack placed in the top third of the oven for these.
bake for 25 to 35 minutes. Check the brownies after 25 minutes to see if they are setting up. Bake time varies from oven to oven. For my last oven it was about 28 minutes, but with my current oven these take about 35 minutes. I like my brownies slightly gooey and under baked. I use a ceramic baking dish, but if you use a glass dish, you might need to reduce the baking time by 3 to 5 minutes. The sides should be set and the center puffed up. Allow the brownies to cool for 20 minutes before slicing.