World’s Best Brownies

Is there anything better than a warm brownie? I think not. Except maybe with some vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce. But without the brownie, that’s just a boring little sundae. Given the choice between brownie and the ice cream, I’ll take the brownie every day.

Brownies remind me of the best parts of my childhood. There weren’t too many things that couldn’t be fixed with a good brownie or two. And any meal that ended with a brownie was a feast. I’m getting hungry just thinking about it.

Over the years, I’ve made all kinds of brownies, from box mixes to fancy shmancy brownies with all sorts of stuff added in. For me, however, there’s nothing better than your basic fudgy chocolate squares, perhaps with some pecans or walnuts thrown in for fun. The recipe below is my absolute favorite, and it’s not all that hard to make. Just follow the instructions one step at a time, and you’ll soon be enjoying what I think are the best brownies on earth.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups sugar
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (natural or Dutch-process)
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

Instructions:

Position your oven rack in the lower third of the oven. Preheat the oven to 325°.

Line the bottom and sides of an 8×8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper or foil. Make sure to leave an overhang on two opposite sides of the pan. You’ll use them to remove the brownies from the pan when they’re done. Alternatively, you can spray the pan with a good cooking spray, such as Baker’s Joy. But the paper/foil works better.

Place butter in medium heat-proof bowl. Place bowl in a large skillet of simmering water. Make sure it’s just barely simmering, not boiling! Stir the butter from time to time to help it melt more quickly.

When butter is melted, add sugar, cocoa powder and salt. Stir mixture until it is smooth and hot, but not boiling. When you put your finger in the mixture, and you have to pull it out quickly to avoid being burned, it’s hot enough.

Remove bowl from water and set aside until mixture is just warm, not hot. Don’t worry about how it looks right now. It will look a little gritty, but this will go away in the next step.

Add vanilla to mixture and stir. (The original recipe calls for a wooden spoon, but you can use a rubber spatula if you prefer.)

Add eggs one at a time, stirring briskly after each one until thoroughly blended. When the batter looks thick and shiny, add the flour and stir like the bejeebers. When you can’t see the flour any longer, beat mixture for 40 strokes. Don’t be a baby; beat it like it owes you money!

Spread mixture evenly in the lined pan.

Bake at 325° until a toothpick poked into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, about 20 to 25 minutes. Watch your brownies carefully. They may be done sooner than 20 minutes, or may take several minutes longer. Keep checking with a clean toothpick until you achieve the desired results.

Let cool completely on a rack before removing brownies from pan. For near-perfect cuts, you can put the pan in the fridge for an hour or so after it has cooled to room temperature.

Transfer the brownies to a cutting board, by lifting them by the ends of the parchment paper or foil.

Cut into 16 or 25 squares.

Serve to friends and watch their eyes go wide with the first bite!

Options:

Nuts – Feel free to add chopped pecans or walnuts to the mixture. Use 1/2 to 2/3 cup. You can also top the mixture with pecan or walnut halves for a nice presentation. Just be careful to place them such that they won’t interfere with cutting your brownies down to size. (If you’re going to eat the whole pan yourself, you can ignore this advice.)

Powdered Sugar – for a little fancier presentation, you can sprinkle the top of the cooled brownies with a bit of powdered sugar.

Vanilla Extract – yes, there are artificial versions that cost less. You’ll hate yourself for using them, though. Get PURE vanilla extract, OK?

And there you have it, folks. The absolute BEST brownie recipe you’ll ever find. Try it out, and let me know how it went, or if you added anything to it. And, as always, have fun and

Play with your food!

Lane

PS – After posting this recipe, I couldn’t help myself; I had to make some. In a fit of “nice,” I took half the pan (8 brownies) to the property management office for them to enjoy. Out of four people, I got three emails and a phone call to tell me how marvelous they were. That didn’t hurt my feelings a bit, you know? ~ LB

Did you like this recipe? What recipes would you like to learn? Leave me a comment and tell me your thoughts! (And don’t forget to LIKE this post!) Share it using the tiles below.

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