Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

Some months ago I stumbled across a brownie recipe at "Raquel's Box of Chocolate" (a foodblog that seems to no longer exist). It promised greatness, and I've longed for greatness in a chocolate brownie from my own kitchen. Here in Ann Arbor, Zingerman's "magic brownies" are the pinacle of brownies. (Okay, I know some of you out there don't like them, but I adore them.) I wanted a rich, chocolate brownie that tasted of chocolate and not chocolate-flavored sugar. I hope this make sense because there is a difference. I find most box mixes and pre-made cookie doughs and just about any other pre-made dessert to be more like eating sugar with a little flavoring. And, unfortunately, a lot of not-so-great recipes focus on the sweet and not the flavor.

So I printed off the recipe and it sat around my printer for some months. Finally, in need of an easy dessert and tired of the usual, I dug around the mass of printouts piled around my desk and found the brownie recipe.

There was only one problem: the recipe was written for an 8 inch square pan, and I have a 9" square pan. (sigh) How did I end up with such non-standard size pans. It never seems to fail that I am one size off. Fortunately I didn't take some eight or so advance math courses during my college years to not be able to solve this one. A 9" pan is approximately 25% larger than an 8" pan. I provide the original recipe amounts and then at the end the 9" pan amounts

I think it's not quite perfect, but it's very very close. I think perfection exists in the imagination and the belief that there's always a better recipe out there somewhere. Well, and maybe at Zingerman's. (Okay, okay. Enough with that already.) But at brownie recipes go, this is a d@mn good one...

This is a chocolate brownie, fudgy and rich, delicious at room temperature and absolutely dreamy when re-heated just a touch in the microwave. (And crumbled up in a little milk.)

Fudgy Chocolate Brownies
from Martha Stewart Baking Handbook

Some people prefer their brownies cakey. We developed this recipe to satisfy our craving for a bar that was just the opposite: dense, fudgy and full of deep chocolate flavor.

1 stick (1/2 cup) unsalted butter, plus more for pan
8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
4 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp salt

1 Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 inch square baking pan or glass dish. Line the pan with parchment paper, leaving a 1/2 to 1 inch overhang on two sides. Set aside.

2 Place butter and chocolate in a double-boiler over simmering water, stir frequently until chocolate and butter are melted, about 7 minutes. Remove bowl from heat; let cooled to room temperature, 10 to 15 minutes. (You can improvise a double boiler by setting a large heatproof bowl over a pan with simmering water. Becareful to not let water drip into the bowl, or the chocolate could "seize". Other tips for melting chocolate.)

3 Stir sugar into cooled chocolate mixture until combined. Whisk in eggs one at a time, whisking until smooth after each addition. Whisk in vanilla. Gently fold in flour and salt.

4 Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top with an offset spatula. Bake until a cake tester inserted in the center comes out with only a few moist crumbs attached, 40 to 45 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack to cool completely.

For nutty version: Fold in 1 1/2 cups walnut halves, finely chopped, after the flour and salt. Proceed with recipe.

9 inch pan amounts
A 9 inch pan is %26 percent larger, area-wise, than an 8 inch pan. So increase amounts by one quarter.

Butter: 1 stick plus 2 Tbs (i.e. 5 oz)
Chocolate: 10 oz.
Sugar: 1 3/4 C plus 1/8 C (1/8 cup equals 2 Tbs)
Eggs: 5 eggs
Vanilla: 1 tsp plus 1/4 tsp.
Flour: 3/4 C plus 3 Tbs (or scant 1 cup)
Salt: 1/2 tsp plus 1/8 tsp. (I tend to think dessert recipes are undersalted. If you're like me, consider using 3/4 tsp.)

Kitchen Chick's Notes:
- Chocolate blend: I used one 4 oz Ghirardelli 60% Cocoa Bittersweet and one 5.3 oz bar of Black's Organic 72% bittersweet, and I use semi-sweet chips for the remaining 0.7 oz needed. I think a good quality chocolate is key to good tasting brownies. I like bittersweet both for its richness in flavor and for its "less-sweetness." After all, there's already plenty of sugar in the recipe to make it sweet.

- Do let them cool completely before cutting. Walk away from the temptation. They'll still be a touch tricky to cut cleanly even after cool.

- I baked for 48 minutes and it was a touch too long. One edge over cooked and became a bit tough. (Tough edges can be cut off, but I hate to waste brownie.) Check at 40 minutes, and if the edges look like they're getting a bit dry and the centers aren't completely liquid, consider pulling them out of the oven. And then let cool completely before cutting. If the center has risen higher than the rest, it will resettle while cooling.

Comments

[Kate]

pssst! I have the Zingerman's recipe! (http://4obsessions.blogspot.com/2006/10/attempting-to-be-lea.html) Maybe a side by side tasting is in order?

[Kate]

hmmm--looks like the url didn't go through...the recipe is indexed on my sidebar under desserts.

http://4obsessions.blogspot.com/

[Kitchen Chick]

I've heard that Zingerman's will give out their recipes if you ask, but I haven't remembered to ask when I'm there. But now I don't have to. Thanks for posting the link.

(The Martha Stewart and the Zingerman recipes look very similar, although (surprisingly) the Zingerman's one has less chocolate per square inch of brownie.)

[Lydia]

These do look dangerously wonderful....

[Brilynn]

You've left me craving brownies, and chocolate, lots of chocolate.

[Alida]

I'm going to have to try these. I love baking. I *adore* experimenting. But no matter what I do, I can't bake brownies.

While in AA, I managed to make a pan of brownies so bad we threw them out.

Seems I forgot the sugar.

[Randi]

I'm not a big brownie fan, but I do like Zingerman's. I dont like paying the price though. I made a thick, fudgy, chewy brownie from Cook's Illustrated recently. I used the pound plus bittersweet bar from TJ's. They got rave reviews. I can give you the recipe if you want, since CI is subscription only.

[Karen]

Thank you so much! I found an ammaaazing recipe that I changed just a touch (I added a mixture of white, milk, and semi-sweet, as well as the unsweetened chocolate yum =D ) But after I wrote it down I ended up losing it, I wanted to make them and I couldn't find it, but I did find this. The only difference is there is on more egg and 1/4cup less flour! Yay!

[Lesley]

Thank you so much for this recipe - these are hands down - the best brownies I have made in my entire life, moanworthy - made a second batch with usweetened chocolate, and they were even better...

[Half Assed Kitchen]

ZOMG. These sound fab.

[Eileen]

Okay, I just put a batch of these brownies in the oven. I can't wait to taste them. They look like pure sin..