Chocolate Brownies

The third and final item from my baking marathon was Chocolate Brownies from a book I received as a gift, "Brownies to Die For! The complete guide for Brownie Lovers" by Bev Shaffer. This is a brownies-only cookbook. I had previously tried out 2 recipes from here - the first I tried was good, but the second recipe was bad. Given this experience, I stuck to the first recipe and haven't tried out other ones in the book.


This brownie recipe is a classic - fudgy interior, crunchy exterior. The only modifications I made to the recipe was to substitute in one ounce of extra bittersweet chocolate in place of unsweetened chocolate, and to add 1 tsp of instant coffee to enhance the chocolate flavor.


Plain and Simple Fudgy Brownies

4oz. unsweetened chocolate, coarsely chopped
2/3C unsalted butter
2C granulated sugar
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4C unbleached, all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1C chopped walnuts or peacans, lightly toasted

Heat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease a 13x9" baking pan.
Melt chocolate and butter in a saucepan over low heat, stirring to blend. Remove pan from heat and whisk in sugar, eggs and vanilla.
Stir in flour, baking powder, salt and nuts. Spread into prepared pan. Bake for 25 minutes or until the brownies just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan. Brownies will be dry if over-baked! Cool pan slightly (or just until the brownies will no longer burn the roof of your mouth!). Cut into bars. Makes about 2 dozen.