Baked Brownies

So fudgy, so chocolaty.  Look how dense and delightful!!  These were gobbled up without hesitation!

I got the recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  Which I reviewed here.

The recipe can also be found here.  

I changed one thing in the recipe: I am not a coffee drinker, so instead of the 1 teaspoon of instant espresso powder I used a teaspoon of dark ground unsweetened cocoa powder. 

Whisk together the flour salt, and 2 tablespoons cocoa powder in a medium bowl.  Set aside.

We need room temperature eggs for this recipe.  A fast and easy way to bring the eggs to room temperature is to put the eggs in a bowl and cover with warm water.  Allow them to sit for 10 minutes.

While the eggs are warming up, put the dark chocolate pieces, the butter and the 1 teaspoon cocoa powder in a glass bowl over a pot of boiling water.  This slowly warms up and melts the chocolate and butter.

 When the warm chocolate mixture is melted and smooth, turn off the heat.  With the bowl still over the hot water add the sugars.  Whisk until completely combined. Then remove the bowl from the pan.

Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.  Add the vanilla stir.

Sift the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture and carefully fold the flour mixture in until there is just a bit of flour still visible. (Don't over mix your batter.)

 Pour the batter into a greased 9x13 inch baking pan and bake in a preheated 350 degree F oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the bake time.

Be sure to cut the brownies with a plastic knife.  The sticky, gooey, fudgy crumbs don't stick as easily.

Let's eat!

Baked Brownies

1 ¹⁄₄ cups flour 

1 teaspoon salt 

2 tablespoons dark cocoa 

11 ounces quality dark chocolate, chopped coarsely (60-72%) 

8 ounces butter, cut into 1 inch cubes (2 sticks) 

1 teaspoon instant espresso powder or dark cocoa powder 

1 ¹⁄₂ cups sugar 

¹⁄₂ cup light brown sugar 

5 large eggs, room temperature 

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 9x13x2 pan.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder.
4. Configure a large sized double boiler. Place the chocolate, the butter, and the instant espresso powder in the bowl of the double boiler and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water of the double boiler and add both sugars. Whisk the sugars until completely combined and remove the bowl from the pan. Mixture should be room temperature.
5. Add three eggs to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk until just combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until just combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over beat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
6. Sprinkle the flour/cocoa/salt mix over the chocolate. Using a spatula (DO NOT USE A WHISK) fold the dry into the wet until there is just a trace amount of the flour/cocoa mix visible.
7. Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top with your spatula. Bake the brownies for 30 minutes (rotate the pan half-way through baking) and check to make sure the brownies are completely done by sticking a toothpick into the center of the pan. The brownies are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs.
8. Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.