Yep, another re-publish from Tasteful Diversions. Next week it’ll be a new one, I promise.
To follow up last week’s lemonade recipe, I give you brownies. Specifically, I’m publishing these two recipes close together because one of my very favorite summertime combos is brownies and lemonade.
I avoided making brownies from scratch for years because not only were they WAAAAY too much effort (double boiler? No thank you very much!) but they also never came out fudgy like I like them. Then I stumbled across this recipe from Cook’s Illustrated which is only slightly more work than making from a box (no double boiler!) AND makes the fudgiest brownies I’ve ever had.
Updated 6/6/20: It turns out that for awhile now, I’ve been shorting the baking chocolate. I discovered this accidentally, and didn’t have enough to make up the shortage, so I upped the cocoa, and they turned out even better. The recipe below reflects the new measurements.
Updated 11/30/20: Um. Apparently I neglected to give the sugar measurements in the ingredients list when I transferred this from the old blog. Big oops. So sorry if you’ve made these without sugar. Fixed now.
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 12 ? I dunno -- depends on how big you like your brownies | 15 minutes |
| Cook Time |
| 30-35 minutes |
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|
|
These brownies are perfect every time...dense and fudgy on the inside with a lovely crisp top.
(Adapted from Cook’s Illustrated, March & April 2010)
|
- 1/2 cup unsweeted cocoa
- 1/2 cup + 2 Tbsp water boiling
- 1 oz unsweetened chocolate finely chopped
- 4 Tbsp unsalted butter melted
- 1/2 cup +2 Tbsp vegetable oil
- 2 eggs
- 2 egg yolks
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 1/2 cups sugar
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 3/4 tsp salt
- 6 oz dark or bittersweet chocolate chips
- Preheat oven to 350°.
- Line 13×9 pan with foil; spray lightly with cooking spray.
- In a large bowl, whisk cocoa and boiling water together until smooth.
- Add in unsweetened chocolate and continue to whisk until chocolate is melted.
- Whisk in melted butter and oil. [CI notes at this point that the mixture may look curdled; I have not had this issue.]
- Whisk in eggs, yolks, and vanilla.
- Whisk in sugar.
- Stir in flour and salt [CI indicates a rubber spatula for this part; I use a wooden spoon and it seems to work fine] until all ingredients are fully incorporated.
- Fold in chips.
- Pour batter into prepared pan and bake at 350° 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out clean (or with a few moist crumbs).
- Remove from oven and allow to cool in pan on a rack for 1 1/2hrs.
- Using foil, remove brownies from pan and place on rack to cool another hour before serving.*
*Okay, look, this is 2 1/2 hours of cooling time. I don’t know about you, but there is no chance in hell that fresh brownies are going to get that much alone time at my house. I usually make it about 45 minutes before I start cutting.