Amazing, Really Amazing, Fudge Brownies

Mirj's Note:

Intense, dark, fudgy, gooey, everything a brownie should be. You can vary the topping, using chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, toffee bits, nuts, M&Ms, whatever floats your boat. The recipe originally started out as something in the Magnolia Bakery cookbook, but grew into something much more personal. I now make these every week, keeping a stash in the freezer for emergency chocolate needs. Daphna, you asked for the recipe, here it is.

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 15 mins
• Cook Time: 45 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 30

Basic Brownie

• 1 cup flour
• 1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
• 3/4 teaspoon salt
• 12 ounces unsweetened chocolate
• 1 cup butter (I usually use margarine to kee it non-dairy)
• 3 cups sugar
• 6 large eggs (the original recipe says room temperature, but I've used them straight out of the fridge)
• 2 tablespoons vanilla extract

Topping

• 12 ounces chocolate chips (or white chocolate chips, or toffee bits, or candied pecans, or peanuts, or M&Ms, you get the pictur)

Directions:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2. The original recipe says to grease a 12 X 18 inch jelly roll pan, but I use a 9 x13 inch cake pan for intense denseness, and don't grease it, just line it with parchment paper).
3. Melt the chocolate with the butter, either on the stovetop or in the microwave. Stir until smooth. Let cool for about 5 minutes.
4. Mix in the sugar and the eggs and the vanilla extract.
5. Add in the flour, baking powder and salt. Mix until combined.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
7. Sprinkle the chips (nuts, whatever) evenly over the top of the batter.
8. The original recipe says to bake for 25-28 minutes until a cake tester comes out with some moist crumbs attached to it. This never works for me. I usually have to let it go for about 40-45 minutes. This is probably because my pan is more condensed than the jelly roll pan.
9. Do not overbake!
10. I usually let the brownies cool in the pan, the keep them in the fridge overnight. The I just lift them out of the pan by the parchment paper, place the whole thing on a cutting board and then it's the perfect state for cutting into perfect brownie squares.
11. Some of us like the edges the best, others prefer the center.

Reviews

[Chef #607825]

Wonderful Brownies, incredibly moist don't even need a topping. We modified it slightly and still had success: Margerine instead of Butter. Instead of Unsweetened Chocolate 8oz Semisweet bakers chocolate and 4Tbsp Sugar and 4Tbsp Cocoa all included in the gnosh. Pecans as nut of choice. Total calories 245/brownie.