No apologies here. These are dense and decadent. You’ll want to use a strong dark chocolate—something that stands up to the richness of great butter, fresh eggs, and a lot of sugar.
Ingredients
makes about 20 (2-inch square) brownies
Chocolate Choices:
Scharffen Berger, Domori, Lindt, or Trader Joe’s Pound Plus 72% dark chocolate1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
8 ounces dark chocolate, finely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) butter (preferably unsalted European style, such as Plugra)
5 large eggs
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon strong brewed coffee or espresso
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup broken walnuts or pecans
Sifted confectioners’ sugar, to dust
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Prepare a standard (13 by 9-inch) brownie pan by lining it with a sheet of parchment paper or lightly spraying the pan with cooking spray.
Step 2
Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt in a bowl, stir, then set aside.
Step 3
Place the chocolate and butter together in a stainless steel bowl over a saucepan of simmering water and allow them to melt together.
Step 4
In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the wire whip attachment, combine the eggs, vanilla, and coffee and mix on low speed until blended. Add half of the sugar, then mix on high. As the mixture becomes lighter, stop the mixer and add the remaining sugar. Whip until the mixture is smooth. Remove the bowl from the mixer and stir in the melted chocolate and butter. Add half the flour, fold in by hand, then add the rest of the flour and continue folding. Finally, fold in the nuts. Fold until the batter is smooth. Pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Step 5
Bake for about 30 minutes. The cake will still be gooey in the center; the top and sides should be crispy. Allow the brownies to cool on a rack in the pan for about 30 minutes. Place the pan in the refrigerator for about an hour if possible to condense the moisture inside. Remove the pan from the refrigerator. Take a paring knife and run it around the sides of the pan, loosening the cake from the pan. Cover it with a sheet pan or large cutting board covered with parchment paper and flip it, allowing the brownie cake to gently fall onto the parchment paper. The cake will be upside down. Remove the baking pan, remove the parchment paper it baked on, then place a large cutting board over the cake, and flip it back over. Your cake is now right side up. You can slice the brownies into square or triangle shapes and dust with confectioners’ sugar.Chocolate Bliss