Classic Brownies

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It's been a couple weeks since I posted anything but I promise that I had good reason - I was in Europe for 10 days!! My sister and I went on a fantastic trip to the Netherlands and France and we had such a wonderful time. I will be sharing pics (LOTS of food pics!) soon, once I can go through all my photos, so stay tuned! 

Until then, enjoy this recipe for classic brownies. I'd have to say that brownies are one of my all time favorite desserts. They are easy, delicious, and always a crowd pleaser. I like my brownies rich and fudgy, those recipes that are full of butter, chocolate (not just cocoa powder) and eggs, with a tiny bit of flour to hold everything together. The only problem with these type of recipes is that I don't always have enough chocolate in the pantry to make them as they often call for 8+ ounces of chocolate (plus this can quickly get quite expensive).

I thought this recipe was a good compromise. It calls for some melted chocolate, but not half a pound of it, and only 6 tablespoons of butter which is really reasonable in a brownie. They are super easy to throw together and bake up beautifully, fudgy and dense, moist and chewy. Great chocolate flavor, a great go-to brownie recipe. 

When I was trying to find a brownie recipe to make I couldn't find anything just right. The recipe I used as a starting point for this recipe looked perfect, the only problem was it called for unsweetened chocolate which I did not have and didn't want to go buy at the time. I decided to try and adapt it so I could use bittersweet chocolate and just see how it worked. So I replaced the unsweetened chocolate with bittersweet chocolate, cut back a bit on the sugar, and added a little cocoa powder to boost up the chocolate flavor. In the end I thought they turned out great! I don't know how they compare to the original but it doesn't really matter, they are great as written below. If I ever find myself with some unsweetened chocolate maybe I'll try making the original recipe, but until then these brownies will do just fine!

 
 
 
 

 

Classic Brownies
Heavily adapted from Cook's Illustrated
Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup (2 1/4 ounces) all purpose flour
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 3/8 teaspoon baking powder
  • 2 3/4 ounces bittersweet chocolate, at least 60% cocoa
  • 6 tablespoons (3 ounces) butter
  • 1 tablespoon cocoa powder
  • 1 cup (7 ounces) sugar
  • 2 eggs
  • 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Directions
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a 8-inch square or similar sized baking dish by lining it with parchment paper and greasing the parchment with butter. Set aside. In a medium bowl, combine flour, salt, and baking powder; set aside.

Melt chocolate and butter in the microwave in 15-30 second intervals, stirring after each interval, being sure you don't overheat the chocolate. When chocolate is smooth and melted add the sugar and stir until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, whisking after each egg until completely combined. Add in vanilla.

Add 1/3 flour mixture, fold in with rubber spatula. Repeat until all flour is used and mix is smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan- make sure to spread into corners of pan. Smooth the surface for even baking.

Bake brownies for 30 to 35 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the brownies comes out almost clean. Cool in pan on wire rack for 10 minutes. Then carefully remove brownies from pan by lifting out the parchment. Transfer to wire rack and cool completely before cutting. For cleanest slicing, once brownies are almost completely cool, place in the freezer for 30-60 minutes until chilled all the way through before cutting.