Tried a new brownie recipe called Luxury Brownies (from a blog)...
These brownies use both semisweet chocolate, as well as cocoa powder, and I loved the flavor. On the day that I baked them, they were chewy and chocolatey, but not over-the-top chocolatey. I put a few leftovers pieces in a container in the fridge, and forgot about them. I just had one (a week later), they are super fudgy!
It was kinda weird – when I baked it, the middle of the pan kinda exloded upwards, like there was a huge air bubble or something. So after I took it out of the oven, I flattened it out with a spatula. I’m not sure why it did that – maybe it was my mixing technique? I’ll have to try it again to see if it does it again.
The original recipe is linked, but the procedure as written is a little quirky, so here’s my adaptation and conversion:
Adapted Luxury Brownies
8 oz dark chocolate, finely chopped
2 sticks (8 oz) butter, cut into pieces (I used salted butter. If you use unsalted butter, I’d add a 1/2 teaspoon salt)
1 1/2 cups (10 1/2 oz) granulated sugar
4 large eggs
1 cup (5 oz) Flour
1/2 cup (1 1/2 oz) cocoa powder (I used natural, not dutched)
Scant 2 cups (7 oz) of nuts of your choice (pistachio, walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans)
(I omitted the nuts completely)
Preheat oven to 350ºF. Line the bottom and the sides of a 9” square pan with parchment paper. Set aside some of the nuts, if using, to decorate the surface of the brownies.
Finely chop the chocolate; place it in a heatproof bowl, and set aside.
Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Take the pan off the heat, then add the sugar, and stir to dissolve.
Pour the hot mixture over the chopped chocolate. Mix it thoroughly and make sure all the chocolates have dissolved (I had a few bits of chocolate that didn’t melt, but it added to the texture of the brownies, so I wouldn’t worry about it). Break the eggs into a measuring cup, and whisk slightly. Add the eggs to the chocolate mixture and stir to combine.
Sift the flour and cocoa powder over the batter, then fold it into the batter. Fold in the nuts, if using. (Make sure you saved the nice whole ones for garnishing).
Pour the mixture in to the prepared pan, then carefully place the remaining nuts over the batter.
Bake at 350ºF for 25 - 30 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs. Set aside to cool. Don’t cut until they’ve reached room temperature. (I let it cool for about an hour, then stuck it into the fridge for about an hour or two before I cut it, so I could get nice clean slices.)
http://www.cocoandme.com/2007/03/04/luxury-brownies-with-secret-recipe/
