Amazingly Decadent Brownies

I am writing this post under the influence. I am in a haze of brownie euphoria. I have overindulged over the last couple of days, but I cannot seem to stop myself. There is probably not much on this earth that comes closer to perfection than a good brownie. Rich, fudgy and so much chocolate it should probably require a license. That is the perfect description for a Baked Brownie.

I came across the recipe while surfing the net. I think I first heard about it on Cakespy and from there I have found it on numerous sites. It is so good that it gets written about a lot, and I am not going to be an exception. The brownie recipe from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking, is in my opinion the best I have ever tasted. It should be; there are 11ounces of melted chocolate in the batter. And be prepared, the recipe makes a lot of brownies, so you will be eating brownies for days. This is a marathon people, not a sprint, so pace yourself.

I have made them numerous times since I found the recipe; the only change I make is to cut the salt to a ½ teaspoon. I found the original recipe a little too salty. Otherwise, fantastic, so pull up a chair and get yourself a big glass of milk.


Brownies
adapted from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking

Make sure your eggs are room temperature when you make this recipe, it makes a difference.  Also, I use Ghirardelli cocoa powder and chocolate that is 72% cocoa mass.  Anything less and it will not have the same intense chocolate flavour. Follow the directions exactly as the key to the recipe is not only the ingredients but also the way they are put together. It seems like a lot of steps, but believe me it is worth it.

1-1/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt (the original recipe calls for 1 teaspoon)
2 tablespoons dark cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate, chopped
1 teaspoon instant coffee powder
1 cup butter, cut into cubes
1/2 cup brown sugar
1-1/2 cups sugar
5 large room temperature eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9x13 inch baking pan.
Combine the flour, cocoa powder and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
In a large saucepan, melt the chocolate, the butter, and the instant coffee powder over very low heat, stirring constantly to avoid burning the chocolate. The mixture should become smooth and liquid and all of the chocolate and butter pieces will be completely melted.  Turn off the heat and add both sugars, whisking until they are completely combined.  Remove the pan from the element and allow the mixture to come to room temperature.
In a seperate cup, slightly beat three eggs. Add them to the cooled chocolate mixture and whisk until just combined. Whisk the vanilla into the remaining eggs and then whisk that mixture into the chocolate batter until just combined.  Be careful not to overmix at this point.
Sprinkle the flour, cocoa and salt mix over the chocolate batter and fold together using a rubber spatula.  Do not use a whisk for this step.  You are finished when there is just a trace of the dry ingredients visible in the batter.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake for 30 minutes, rotating the pan half-way through. Check for doneness by inserting a toothpick into the center of the brownies. They are done when the toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake. Cool, cut and serve with milk.