Brownies

Yup, just “brownies”.  Nothing fancy in the name or anywhere else.  No caramel or peppermint or sea salt, no layers, swirls or frosting.  I don’t object to any of those things but sometimes all I want is the pure and simple real thing, the one that doesn’t need any of those embellishments to be amazing.

Some brownies are chewy, some fluffy and cakelike, but no matter their texture, their creators are guaranteed to label them “fudgy”.  These brownies are what I consider to be truly fudgy:  supremely chocolatey, bittersweet, with dark, moist centers underneath a shiny, crinkled top.  The edges get slightly chewy but the middles stay so soft they’re almost but not quite molten, similar to a flourless chocolate cake.

Brownies are super easy to make, but there are a few key techniques that will yield the best results – the good news is that most of these actually involve shortcuts and conveniences:

• I almost never recommend using chocolate chips for the melted chocolate in a recipe, because they contain stabilizers that affect the texture of baked goods.  In this case, not only do they work, I’ve found I don’t like the way this recipe comes out when I use the premium chocolate bars I usually use for baking.  Win-win, when common grocery store chocolate chips produce a better brownie than the fancy stuff.
• You might think you need to cool the chocolate mixture to room temperature before adding it to the eggs – don’t most recipes caution us against adding warm ingredients directly to raw eggs?  Nope, pour that warm chocolate right in there, as soon as you’ve thoroughly stirred it to blend the melted butter and chocolate together.  A time saver and another win!
• Speaking of the eggs, they don’t need to be at room temperature for this recipe, and neither does the butter (yup, win!).  If your butter is cold, I recommend cutting it into large chunks (about 3 per stick) when you combine it with the chocolate for the microwave, to help it melt evenly.
• These brownies contain a relatively small amount of flour, which is one of the secrets to their melt-in-your-mouth texture.  To make sure you don’t add too much flour, I recommend weighing rather than measuring your flour by volume.  See the FAQ on my About page for more on why weighing is better.
• I prefer a hand mixer rather than a stand mixer for making these brownies – I don’t know if it makes a ton of difference, but I feel like I have more control.  Unlike a lot of batters for cookies and cakes, you don’t want fluffiness and air in this brownie batter, so regardless of whether you use a hand mixer or a stand mixer, keep it on a low speed and go easy – stop mixing as soon as the ingredients are blended in each step.
• Some people like nuts in their brownies.  I don’t, but if you do, I’ll allow walnuts, stirred in by hand after mixing in the flour.
• I don’t give a time range for baking these brownies – for me they always take exactly 30 minutes.  I don’t even bother to test the center with a toothpick.  Unless your oven is wildly unpredictable, give them 30 minutes.  (If you don’t trust your oven or you just can’t help yourself, watch for the last few minutes until the edges look dry and slightly raised, and have pulled away from the sides of the pan.  If you test the center, it will seem slightly underdone – this is as it should be.)
• Lining the baking pan with foil makes for easy removal of the baked brownies.  Gently tug on the foil handles at each end of the pan and the brownies will come out in a solid block.  (Make sure they’re completely cool before you do this!)  You can transfer the whole thing – brownies and foil – to a cutting board and cut the brownies right on the foil, or carefully tip the block of brownies up on its side and peel off the foil.  Cut the brownies as big or as small as you like. You can get twenty roughly 2¼-inch squares by cutting 4 rows along the long edge and then cutting each row into 5 squares.  I find a serrated bread knife works best.

Making these ahead and what to do with leftovers:

• These brownies are softest on day one, but will keep, well wrapped at room temperature, for 3 days.  To keep them longer, wrap them in foil or freezer paper and then in a freezer-safe zip-lock bag and freeze for up to a couple of months.
• I prefer my brownie straight up with a cup of coffee; John’s favorite is a brownie sundae:  warm the brownie for 30 seconds in the microwave, then top with softened vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and if you’re really into it, whipped cream and a cherry.

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