Fudgy Brownies

Here is another delicious brownie recipe, from the book The Essence of Chocolate. This brownie has a lot of chocolate in it. Its extremely fudgy and dense. I doubled the recipe, because more is always better (I used a 9x13-inch pan), and it was gone in a day. Yup a day. The interesting thing about the recipe is that it is done by hand. It clearly says not to use a stand mixer. At first I thought its going to be a pain, but it is really not that hard. Kind of like going back to basics. Try this recipe if you love fudgy, chocolaty brownies (how can you resist?)

Fudgy Brownies Recipe:
6 tablespoons (3 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into cubes

8 ounces 70% bittersweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup toasted walnut halves (optional)

Position a rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 325F. Lightly butter an 8 by 8 inch pan and line it with parchment paper, allowing it to extend evenly over the opposite sides. Butter the parchment including the paper on the sides of the pan.

Place the chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water and stir occasionally until melted and smooth. Remove from heat.

With a large rubber spatula or wooden spoon, beat the sugar and slat into chocolate mixture. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour and mix vigorously until the batter is very glossy and pulls away from the sides of the bowl. Break the nuts into large pieces over the batter and fold them in.

Pour batter into prepared pan and tap the pan on the counter top to level the batter. Bake for 30 - 35 minutes, or until a skewer inserted in the center comes out moist but clean. Let cool in the pan on a cooling rack for 10 minutes. Remove the brownies from the pan using parchment "handles", and cool completely before cutting in 2-inch squares.

Makes sixteen 2-inch brownies.