Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies

It was my birthday over the weekend.

I made a transition. It was a minor transition, but still a noteworthy one. I sort of moved from mid-twenty to mid to late twenty. Blaaaaa.

Honestly, in my head, I'm still eighteen and I don't think I'll ever grow out of it. Sometimes I think I'm eight, but I can't carry that on forever..... It's hard to believe an eight-year-old can make the best brownies in the world.

But she can.

This week someone asked me over Twitter to direct her to my favourite brownie recipe and I realized that I haven't posted it on my blog. So this is it....

A thin shiny tissue-paper crust.

A moist, dense, chocolately center.

Chewy edge pieces if you're into that sort of thing.....

I've always been a 'center piece' kind of girl.

Everyone needs to know how to make brownies. If you know how to make brownies, then you know how to make people happy. It's easy, I promise.

Box mixes? What the heck are those? Throw them out.

I know there are people who refuse to eat brownies without that shiny wrinkly top. Well I have news for ya - I can guarantee you will achieve it with this recipe.

The secret? Beat the crap out of the eggs and sugar. I mean it. Use a stand mixer, a hand mixer or your own hand. Just beat it. Dissolved sugars play an important role here.

Want fudgy brownies? Does Dolly Parton sleep on her back? Come on....

Get that fudgy texture with lots of sugar, butter and a light hand. Fold in the flour just gently to prevent an elastic or bread-like texture and encourage a delicate melt-in-your mouth texture.

Now get on this. Brownies pretty much rule. So do you.


Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Makes 16 brownies

5 oz bittersweet chocolate (minimum 70% cocoa solids), coarsely chopped
6 tbsp butter
½ cup all-purpose flour
¼ tsp sea salt
2 large eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350°F. Line an 8x8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving a 2-inch overhang on each end.

In a large bowl over a pot with ½-inch of simmering water, stir together chocolate and butter until completely melted, smooth and glossy; set aside to cool about 3 minutes (you can also melt it in the microwave).

In separate small bowl, whisk together flour and salt. 

In a medium bowl, beat eggs with sugar using an electric hand mixer or stand mixer on high speed until pale, thick and fluffy, about 3-5 minutes. When you lift up the beaters, the egg mixture will form a slowly disappearing ribbon on the surface of the mixture when it falls back into the bowl. Beat in vanilla extract. Stir in cooled chocolate mixture until well blended. Add flour mixture and fold it in gently using a rubber spatula until well incorporated and smooth. Pour batter into prepared pan and use the back of the spatula to smooth out the surface. 

Bake until slightly puffed but still moist in the center, about 20 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool completely before cutting into squares.