Dark Chocolate, Fudgy Brownies

Tonight, I made some brownies.   I've made hundreds of brownies over the years.  Many with my mom, who admittedly hates to bake but instilled in me an unabashed love for Betty Crocker and her boxed delights.   As such, I must admit that a brownie from scratch had never been poured into any baking pan of mine...before tonight.  

Sidenote: This week my beloved mom also happened to make brownies.  With great excitement, she found a "shake and bake" version of brownie mix at the grocery store; "You just add water, Jess!"  (It's real: Betty Crocker "'Shake-N-Pour'...)


So why no boxed delights for us this time?  Well, I was exceptionally inspired.  Marty made a delicious beef stew today, the perfect November-weekend dinner.  He had me feeling pretty inspired to put my own chef hat on and after he mentioned a craving for something fudgy and chocolately, we both looked to our cookbook collection to see what we could find.  I came to Sara Perry's Deep Dark Chocolate, a solid standby that had been purchased in the Harvard Bookstore while I was in pastry school.  Let me say that her "good ol' fudgy brownies" did not disappoint.  (BTW, she also has written a book called Everything's Better with Bacon; she has got to be a wise woman.) Note: I made a few additions to the recipe, like vanilla.


"Good Ol' Fudgy Brownies" Recipe:

• 7.5 oz Dark Chocolate (used Hershey's Special Dark Chocolate Bars)
• 3/4 cup unsalted butter (room temp, cut into pieces)
• 6 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1.5 cup granulated sugar
• Pinch of salt
• 3 large eggs (room temp)
• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Grease 12-by-8-inch baking pan.  Mix cocoa, sugar, and salt together in a bowl.   Set aside.   Melt butter, vanilla and chocolate over hot water in a heatproof bowl; stir occassionally.  (Will be really smooth.)  Remove from heat and whisk in cocoa-mixture slowly.  Whisk in eggs, one at a time.  Whisk in flour until blended.  Pour into pan and spread evenly - batter will be smoothy but not runny.  Bake for 32-35 minutes.

TA-DA!  (I've already had two.)  Overall, I was really happy with the results and found the recipe as a whole to be quite easy to execute and prepare.  The brownies are fudgy and moist but the level of chocolately-goodness is just right.  You could have milk with these brownies and it would be a fantastic accompaniment, but you don't need have milk when eating them because they're not that type of consistency.  (For an adult option, these would also taste great with a glass of Baileys on the rocks or a White Russian!)   Because I used a 12'x8" baking pan, they baked a little bit flatter than had I used a square 8"x8" pan, but I liked the thickness of these (about 3/4 inch) particularly given the desired fudginess.  I think I'd bake them in the same pan again, but I would be interested to see if a thicker brownie with this recipe would be even better.

If you're looking for a brownie recipe, and want to venture just a bit further beyond the box, I would definitely recommend.