Basic Best-Ever Brownies

So I’m more than well aware of the fact that there are thousands of brownie recipes out there. Therefore, it’s bold of me to call these the “best-ever,” but hear me out. I feel like so many of the brownie recipes out there just aren’t really brownies at all (in my own humble opinion anyway). Many brownie recipes are simply a very dense cake, or, even more far from the mark, just a less dense fudge. These are all well and good and they taste great. So please don’t take my comments as criticism, but, to me, they just aren’t brownies. A brownie has a particular texture and chocolaty flavor that you just can’t find anywhere else. Enter my brownies. They are dense, but still light and pack a huge chocolate punch. Not to mention they are super fast to whip up if you’re in a hurry, and I ALWAYS keep the ingredients for them in my house for all those last minute occasions where a dessert is needed.

The chocolate flavor in these brownies comes from chocolate in it’s purest form, unsweetened chocolate. The 4 oz. of this in the recipe ensure that your brownies will taste like you’re eating a chocolate bar itself rather than a brownie. Make sure that melting the chocolate and butter is the very first thing you do. This gives the melted stuff a chance to cool down slightly before you add it to the eggs. If you add the chocolate straight out of the microwave (or pan if you’re not using one) you will risk cooking the eggs, and chocolate scrambled eggs just doesn’t sound too appealing to me.

One of the nice things about this recipe is that it has no leavener in it. The only lift you get is from whipping up the eggs. This makes it super important that you whip up the eggs, salt and sugar really well with a whisk before adding the other ingredients. You want to make sure that the mix is very light and airy so that you get a decent amount of lift while they bake.

Continue to use a whisk when you add in the chocolate. This will make sure that we keep adding even more air for a better textured brownie.

In the interest of keeping our air in the brownie, I recommend folding the flour in to the mix rather than stirring as normal. Folding the flour with a rubber spatula will help to keep all that air that we worked so hard for before.

The original brownie recipe that I started with was just a plain brownie with just the batter. This is all well and good and you can just pour that into a greased and lined pan an bake away, but I got to thinking about how to make these basic brownies even better without driving them out of “basic” territory. My solution? Chocolate Chips! Guild that lily with even more chocolate. The chocolate chips add a great contrast of texture into the brownies when they’re cool and add tiny chocolate puddles into the brownies when they’re warm. A must!

One final tip about slicing. I line the pan with foil to so that I can remove the brownies more easily, but even the addition of foil won’t stop the brownie block from breaking a little if you take them out of the pan while they’re warm. I suggest cooling them to room temperature and then refrigerating for at least a half hour so that slicing is a breeze. You can still store them at room temp and even warm them in the microwave after their sliced, but that refrigeration ensures clean cuts when you portion the brownies into bars.

Enjoy, and remember you don’t have to be a pro to make magic in the kitchen!

Joe the Blue Wizard

Yield: 24

Author: Joe the Blue Wizard

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Basic Brownies

Prep time: 10 MCook time: 25 MTotal time: 35 M

My basic brownie recipe. This is the best brownie you will eat and the easiest brownie to make!

Ingredients:

• 1 Stick (110 g) Unsalted Butter 
• 4 oz. (113 g) Unsweetened Chocolate 
• 4 Large Eggs
• ¼ Tsp. (1.5 g) Salt
• 2 Cups (400 g) Granulated Sugar
• 1 Tsp. (5 mL) Vanilla
• 1 Cup (120 g) Flour
• ½ Cup (88 g) Chocolate Chips

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Grease a 13x9 pan lined with foil.
3. Melt butter and chocolate in a microwave for 2 minutes on high, stirring every 30 seconds. (Warning: Microwaves may vary on times) Set this mixture aside to cool slightly.
4. Beat eggs and salt until light in color and foamy in texture. Add the sugar and vanilla and beat until thick and foamy.
5. Whisk in the cooled chocolate mixture until just combined.
6. Stir in flour with a spoon or spatula just until combined.
7. Scrape batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle evenly with chocolate chips.
8. Bake about 25 minutes or until a toothpick in the center comes out clean.
9. Let cool completely before removing from the pan and cutting into 24 pieces (or however many you want it to be) (TIP: For the cleanest slices, cut after cold from the fridge or freezer)

Calories

178

Fat (grams)

8.9

Sat. Fat (grams)

5.1

Carbs (grams)

25.2

Fiber (grams)

1.1

Sugar (grams)

19

Protein (grams)

2

Sodium (milligrams)

24.3

Cholesterol (grams)

43.3

Created using The Recipes Generator

See me make this recipe on YouTube!