The Baked Brownie

This recipe has been awarded best brownie honors from America's Test Kitchen, The Today Show, and Oprah's O Magazine. This recipe produces chewy with light, crispy edges, and a rich, dense fudge-like middle. This is one RICH brownie! The brownie's chocolate flavor is really deep and intense, and the moist, chewy texture is absolute perfection. It was one of the BEST brownies I had ever eaten (and Ina’s Outrageous Brownies are hard to beat). If you’ve made Ina’s brownies, you’ll likely see there are many similarities to this recipe. The (slight) differences are: this recipe uses a combination of bittersweet chocolate and dark cocoa powder (Ina uses semi-sweet and unsweetened) and the addition of brown sugar. The prep work is easy too- I like how you only use 1 (large) bowl for the entire recipe. The only difficult step is to ensure you do not over-mix the batter- that will result in a cake-like brownie. Next time, I'll start this recipe melting the chocolate/butter/instant espresso first- that way, I can allow time for the ingredients to melt and then cool to room temperature while I prepare the rest of the recipe.

Ingredients:
1-1/4 cups flour
1 tsp salt
2 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
11-oz quality dark chocolate (60-72%), chopped coarsely (I used Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips)
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch cubes
1 tsp instant espresso powder
1-1/2 cups sugar
½ cup light brown sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
2 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. Butter the sides and bottom of a glass or light colored metal pan 9x13x2 pan.
3. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, the salt, and cocoa powder.

4. Configure a large sized double boiler. Place the chocolate, the butter, and the instant espresso powder in the bowl of the double boiler and stir occasionally until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and combined.

5. 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. (Start with Step #4 and #5 FIRST!)

6. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate/butter mixture and whisk until just combined- don’t over mix!.
7. Add the remaining 2 eggs and whisk whisk until just combined- don’t over mix!.

8. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over beat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
9. 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.

10. Pour the mixture into the pan and smooth the top with your spatula.

11. 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.
12. Cool the brownies completely before cutting and serving.


Yield: 24 brownies
Source: Baked: New Frontiers In Baking (Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito)