Dark and Dense Brownies

Over the weekend I had the biggest craving for something dense and chocolatey. I couldn’t stop thinking about it, and then I had an epiphany - brownies! Brownies can cure any fudgey chocolate craving.

Do you know how hard it is to find a good brownie recipe? I will tell you, it is hard! Well, it was for me anyway. I looked and looked for hours (really, I looked at brownie recipes and pictures for about 2 non-stop hours) until I came across two recipes. One came from one of my favorite blogs Joy the Baker, and the other came from a Tuesdays with Dorie recipe. Each one sounded so good, and then I came across another recipe! (I have recipe issues if you haven’t noticed) and that one was almost identical to the one on Joy’s blog, so I followed my instinct and went with Joy’s Dark Chocolate Brownies.

These were a snap to make (I didn’t even get out my mixer) and the house smelled like brownies all day! Well, it did until my sister accidentally spilled some nail polish remover, whoops. I went out of the house several times and each time I walked through the front door I was greeted with the lovely, homey smell of brownies.

To me, a brownie should be dense and fudgey and not at all cakey. If you want cakey, eat a slice of cake, don’t go looking for a brownie. Also, I like the crackly crust on the top of brownies, so I’m not a fan of frosting on a brownie, cake: yes, cookies: sometimes, brownies: no. One last rule about my brownie taste profile: no nuts. I don’t like nuts in my brownies.

This brownie recipe fits all the criteria for my perfect brownie. It was dense, but not “can’t get your fork through” dense; it was rich and chocolatey, but not rich that I couldn’t take more than one bite; and the top had a fine crackly crust on top. To be honest, I don’t normally eat brownies, but because of these, I think I will be eating them more often.  

Dark and Dense Brownies
adapted from Joy the Baker

Ingredients
4 oz bittersweet or dark chocolate
6 tbsp unsalted butter
½ cup + 2 tbsp unbleached all purpose flour
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¾ cup sugar
2 eggs, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9 inch square baking pan with foil. Grease the foil and set aside.
2. Create a double boiler by stacking a glass bowl on top of a saucepan filled with simmering water. Make sure the glass bowl does not touch the water, or the chocolate will burn. Stir the chocolate and butter in the double boiler until both ingredients have completely melted. Once the ingredients have melted, move the double boiler away from the heat. Carefully remove the glass bowl (the steam can burn you) and set aside to cool for a few minutes.
3. Meanwhile, whisk together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. In a medium bowl, whisk together the sugar, eggs, and vanilla extract together until pale and thick, about 5-7 minutes.
4. Once the chocolate mixture has cooled, add a little bit to the egg mixture and stir quickly to temper the eggs. Once the egg mixture has been tempered, pour the rest of the chocolate mixture into the egg mixture. Stir until all the ingredients are incorporated. Add the flour all at once and stir until combined.
5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 15-17 minutes (mine were perfect at the 15 minute mark). Take the pan out of the oven and set it on a cooling wrack. Don’t remove the brownies from the pan until completely cooled, about 45 minutes-1 hour. Once the brownies have completely cooled, lift the foil and set on a flat surface. With a sharp knife, cut into squares.