Better Than Bestest Brownies

If I updated this blog as often as I think about updating this blog…I’d be a different sort of writer than I am.  In an attempt to breathe some life into my creative self, I recently did not one but two creative writing courses.  As you would expect, I walked out of  both feeling like I could do anything!  I was a writer!

Truth be told, it was one of the aphorisms our instructor passed on to us that has had the most resonance – “If you are waiting for inspiration before writing, you aren’t a writer you are a waiter.”  Ouch.  And so true.

I’ve been doing a lot of waiting of late, and while waiting I’ve been cooking.  My husband encourages me to write down when I come up with a new dish…and I always mean to and just forget.  Some of the dishes I’ve come up with  are not very attractive, so don’t lend themselves to food blogging but boy are they delicious (I’m looking at you "Rice Noodles, Omelet and Wombok in Spicy Soy Sauce"). 

So what recipe to share with you?  I think we need to go back to beginning – I’ve added a significantly amazing new variation to my brownie recipe collection.  I jokingly sent a text message to one of my best friends (she's my Chief Brownie Connoisseur) that I had accidentally made a recipe better than my original and favorite. 

This recipe is a fusion of chocolate and cocoa brownie styles…somehow it tastes just like the brownies of my dreams.  They are chewy and rich and beautiful.  So easy and all done in one bowl, so with minimal clean up mess. I am running out of superlative descriptors, perhaps I need another creative writing course (or a thesaurus).

Better than Bestest Brownies

Ingredients:

250grams unsalted butter, melted

1 ½ cups sugar

3 eggs, room temperature (ideally)

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup plain flour

1 teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ cup dark chocolate cocoa powder

350 grams dark chocolate chips (divided)

Method:

Preheat the oven to 160C.  Line a 9” x 13” pan with baking paper (a better option than just trying to spray the pan…trust me…I’ve tried both).

Take the very best butter you can find, 250 grams, and melt it.  I have fallen in love with Lescure French butter, and I can’t see a way back to any other kind of butter. 

Put the sugar into a medium sized bowl, and pour over the melted butter.  Mix well, until the sugar and butter are well combined.  I don’t use beaters for this recipe, just a simple wooden spoon.  How retro.

Add the vanilla extract, and stir through.

Add the three eggs, all at once, and mix them well.  The mix will start to come together nicely, pulling away from the bowl a bit.  This is your sign it’s ready to add the dry ingredients.

Put the flour, salt, baking powder and cocoa in the bowl.  Do use the very best cocoa powder you can get.  I have managed to get my hands on a large supply of Hershey’s Special Dark cocoa (thank you Amazon) but Callebaut makes a lovely dark chocolate cocoa that would work too. 

Mix all the dry ingredients in well, then add 175 grams of the dark chocolate chips. 

Tip the delectable contents of the bowl into your prepared pan, and bake for 30 minutes.  I advocate turning the pan halfway through the bake time, but my oven has its own personality quirks as I’m sure everyone’s does.

I can highly recommend getting a spatula to “clean the bowl out” and can advocate that the brownie mix is as good uncooked as it is cooked.

When you pull the brownies out of the oven to cool, dole out the remaining 175 grams of chocolate chips over the top.  Leave for about ten minutes and they will melt, you can then spread the chocolate evenly over the top.  You can pimp these brownies with anything you can imagine from this point - some coconut flakes (evil, but it takes all sorts to make the world go round), some dried fruit (cranberries or apricots would be nice), chopped nuts, mini marshmallows, or maybe even some lollies.  Add these while the chocolate is still soft, so the add-ins can set in as the brownies cool.

Let cool (if you can wait), cut into about 20 squares, and then devour.