The Baked Brownie | Baked

By xraydj

Baked Note: A great brownie is easy to make, but you have to be aware of several factors. (This is mostly a lie.)

1. Use a dark cocoa powder, like Valrhona. A pale, light-colored cocoa does not have enough depth. ** I just used what I had on hand (Ghiradelli something?!) Previously, I've used Rapunzel, and just tend to avoid Hershey's -- but whatever you have should work.
2. Make sure your eggs are room temperature and do not overbeat them into the batter. ** I usually forget to take the eggs out of the fridge, and quite frankly I don't think it makes much of a difference. I think you just don't want to cook the eggs with the melted chocolate mixture.
3. Make sure you check your brownies often while baking. Once the brownies have been overbaked slightly, they have reached the point of no return. ** I usually forget (again), or am jsut too lazy to check, but I do set the timer about 5 minutes under the recommended time, because I like my brownies slightly undercooked and gooeyer. So long as they don't stick to a tester, that's fine with me.

Ingredients

• 1 1/4 1 1/4 1/4 cups flour
• 1 1 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 2 2 Tablespoons dark cocoa powder
• 11 11 11 ounces quality dark chocolate (60-72%), chopped coarsely
• 8 8 1 ounces butter (2 sticks), cut into 1 inch cubes
• 1 1 1 tsp instant espresso powder
• 1 1/2 1 1/2 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 5 5 5 large eggs, room temperature
• 2 2 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preparation

Step 1

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 9x13x2 pan.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder. (If you're adding cinnamon or other spices, do it here.) Set aside.

Configure a large sized double boiler. (Make sure it's really big. I end up putting pots in pots. Just be mindful that your whole recipe will need to fit in it.) Place the chocolate, butter, and 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.

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.

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. Fold in any additions of your preference.

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.

Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.