My husband really loves chocolate. Last week, while we were at Lotusphere, he was very helpful and ran out to get me things and took care of me when I got sick, so I decided to bake him some brownies when we got home as a thank-you. Not just any old brownies, mind you, but these super chocolatey gooey ones with lots of cocoa and big chunks of bittersweet chocolate.
I adapted this brownie recipe, but only slightly. I also don't have a round cookie cutter, which makes the brownies look totally amazing, so I tried cutting a few out with a glass. However, they stuck to the inside of the glass, so I ended up just cutting them in regular squares after vowing to go buy a set of cookie cutters posthaste.
More photos and recipe after the jump.
Note: After baking, you DEFINITELY need to wrap these well. They tend to dry out a little if they're left out uncovered or covered loosely. Of course, you can always pop them into the microwave for a few seconds and top with ice cream if they get too dry.
Ingredients:
1 cup (8 ounces, 2 sticks) unsalted butter
2 1/2 cups (15 3/4 ounces) sugar (I used organic cane sugar, which takes a little longer to mix into the batter)
1 1/4 cups (3 3/4 ounces) cocoa powder (I used dutch process cocoa)
1 teaspoon salt (I like using flaky sea salt here)
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 Tablespoon vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/2 cups (6 1/4 ounces) all-purpose flour
1 cup (6 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chips
1 cup (6 ounces) bittersweet chocolate chunks (either from a chopped up bar or from baking wafers)
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9-by-13-inch pan. (You can use parchment paper if you want to guarantee easy removal, but lightly greasing worked out just fine for me.)
Melt the butter in a microwave-safe bowl or in a saucepan set over low heat.
Add the sugar, stirring to combine. Be sure the butter has cooled a little and mix right after you add the sugar so the sugar doesn't melt too much.
Stir in the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla.
Whisk in the eggs, stirring until smooth.
Add the flour, stirring until smooth. Then add the chocolate chips and chunks. (I used two different types of chocolate to give two different sizes and textures. You could sub out half of the chocolate for nuts or other types of chips, if desired).
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake the brownies for 28 to 34 minutes, until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean. The brownies should feel set on the edges, and barely set in the center.
Remove the brownies from the oven, and cool for at least 1 hour before cutting. (Definitely cool for longer than an hour. I cooled mine for an hour and 15 minutes and they were still a little too warm to cut.)
Use a 1.5-inch round cutter to cut as many circles as possible out of the brownies. Wrap well; enjoy the leftover scraps.
The way you captured the hot, gooey insides of the brownie seriously makes me want one. Now. Glad you enjoyed the recipe!
Posted by: Shannalee | January 27, 2009 at 10:43 PM