for years, the brownie recipe printed on each canister of Ghiradelli Sweet Ground Chocolate has been my favorite. alas and alack, I am currently unable to purchase that ambrosial substance, so I finally decided to try to adapt the recipe for cocoa and baking chocolate. I am pleased to report that the experiment was a success... no better than the Ghiradelli recipe, mind you, but just as good. I added extra sugar to make up for the sugar included in the Ghiradelli product. these brownies came out just as they should -- ooey, gooey, chewy, chocolatey, etc. oh happy day! *baker's note: I use kosher salt, and I like to stir it into the wet ingredients, rather than sift it in with the dry ones. either way will work.
- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, melted
- 4 ounces baking chocolate (I used Ghiradelli), chopped
- 1-1/4 cup sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cocoa (preferably dutched -- I used Hershey's Special Dark Cocoa with great results)
- 2/3 cup flour (unsifted)
- 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 cup chopped nuts, if you insist on this sort of thing (but I will never understand nuts in brownies) :-)
preheat the oven to 350 °F. butter and flour an 8x8 baking pan(reduce to 325 °F if baking in a clear glass pan). place chopped chocolate in hot melted butter and allow chocolate to melt while preparing other ingredients. sift together the cocoa, flour and baking powder (and salt, if you like). in a large bowl, gently whisk the eggs just to combine the yolks and whites (you do not want to incorporate extra air here; brownies are best when dense and just barely leavened), then stir in the sugar, vanilla, and salt. add in the melted butter and chocolate, and stir to combine. gently stir half of the dry ingredients into the egg mixture, then the other half, until just combined (if you're using chopped nuts, add them now). pour ingredients into the prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. test center for doneness and continue to bake, checking every 5 minutes, until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. cool on a rack and enjoy.
