Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Ultimate Brownies

My quest for the best brownie may have ended today. These are awesome! I adapted the recipe from Ina Garten's recipe for Outrageous Brownies. I also learned how important it is to follow this recipe and chill the brownies in the pan in the refrigerator before trying to handle them. After the brownies cooled in the pan for 2 hours I took them out of the pan to try a little piece, thinking I would just pick up the 8" x 8" square on a sheet of wax paper and move it to the fridge. Unfortunately, I tried to stick my hand under the uncut brownies to lift them and a huge chunk (about a third) broke off and fell directly on top of my dog, Zeus, who happened to be standing right under me feet! Needless to say, he hated it, and then I had to scramble around to pick everything up so he couldn't eat any of the mess. The only saving grace in the whole disaster was how delicious the brownies were!
Zeus has fully recovered from being hit with falling brownies. At least they were cool!
ULTIMATE BROWNIES
Adapted From The Barefoot Contessa Cookbook

INGREDIENTS
10 tablespoons butter
1 1/3 cups semisweet chocolate chips, divided
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour, plus 4 teaspoons flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/3 teaspoon kosher salt

DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8-inch square pan with foil and coat with cooking spray.

2. Melt together the butter, 2/3 cup chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant espresso, vanilla, and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to warm temperature.

3. Stir together 1/3 cup flour, baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the remaining 2/3 cup chocolate chips with the 4 teaspoons flour to coat, then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.

4. Bake for 22-25 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.

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