Shelly's Recipe

DARK CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Category: Brownies/Blondies

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 heaping (a little more than) cup sugar
2 large eggs
Scant (a little less than) 3/4 cups 100% dark cocoa
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tablespoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
11/2-2 ounces of dark (60-70%) chocolate, chopped (or about 1 cup dark chocolate chips)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 9 inch square baking pan.

Melt the butter in a saucepan over low heat (or in the microwave) then remove from heat. Add the sugar and stir to combine. Return the butter mixture to the heat (or microwave) briefly, just until it’s hot, but not bubbling. It will get shiny as you stir it. (This step will dissolve more of the sugar, creating the crackly shiny crust on top of your brownies.)

In a smaller bowl, crack 2 eggs and beat them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder, and vanilla till smooth. Stir the hot butter mixture into the egg mixture until smooth.

Stir in the flour and chocolate chunks (or chips) until just combined. (Note: If you want the chips to remain intact in the baked brownies, rather than melting in, let the batter cool in the bowl for about 20 minutes before stirring in the chips.)

Pour the batter into a lightly greased pan and bake for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out mostly clean, with some moist crumbs but no loose batter. Cool on a rack before serving.

NOTE: Let the brownies cool before removing them from the pan. They are very moist and tender, and will hold together better once cool.