Ad Hoc @ Home Brownies

By Grazor

I slightly adapted them by adding in some espresso powder and cutting back just slightly on the sugar.  I always prefer a dessert that isn't too sweet, especially if it has really high quality cocoa and chocolate.

Ingredients

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 cup unsweetened alkalized cocoa powder (or Dutch processed.  I found some at Williams and Sonoma)
• 1 tsp kosher salt
• 3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1 tbsp chunks
• 3 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cup granulated sugar (recipe calls for 1 3/4)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla paste or extract
• 6 oz. 61-64% chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger)
• 1 1/2 t espresso powder (optional)
• powdered sugar for dusting

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour a 9″ square pan.
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt.
In a large bowl, place half the amount of cubed butter. In a saucepan, melt the remaining half of the butter over medium heat, stirring. Pour the melted butter over the cubed butter, and stir to combine. The butter should look creamy, with bits of unmelted butter still present.
In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs and sugar on medium speed for three minutes, until light and doubled in volume. Add the vanilla. On low speed, alternate adding the flour and the butter in several additions. Stir in the chopped chcocolate.
Pour the batter into pan, and bake for 40 minutes.
Cool and dust with powdered sugar before serving.  Makes about 16.