Brownies!

The other night I was sitting at home feeling in the baking mood when I decided to tackle brownies. For some reason I had this notion that good brownies were difficult to make, but boy was I pleasantly surprised when I tried this recipe. First off, my mom has an extensive baking drawer in our kitchen and we had all the ingredients so prep time took all of ten minutes (cooking adds another 20)!

Mrs. Kupler’s Brownies aka The Best Brownies in the World
Makes 9 X 13” pan to make18 or more brownies, depending on how you slice them

1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
8 ounces (2 sticks) unsalted butter, sliced in 1-inch pieces, plus a little for the pan
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate, cut in 1-inch chunks
2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs
1 1/4 cups “broken” walnuts
1. Set a rack on the middle shelf of the oven and heat the oven to 350°F. Line a 9-X-13-inch baking pan with foil and butter the foil (or use non-stick foil, no butter). Whisk the flour and salt together in a bowl to thoroughly mix them.

2. Melt the butter, chocolate and sugar and vanilla in a large heatproof bowl over hot (not boiling) water. Set aside to cool for a few minutes. Alternatively, combine chocolate etc. in a microwave safe bowl and heat at full power for 2 minutes, stirring after one minute. If the chocolate has not completely melted, give it a little resting time while you beat the eggs, and zap it at 15 second intervals if it still doesn’t cooperate.

3. Beat the eggs in the bowl of an electric mixer (whisk or beater attachment) until light and thick. Stir the chocolate into the eggs and when all the ingredients are thoroughly combined, stir in the flour and salt. Break the nuts in pieces with your hands and stir them into the batter. Spread the batter in the pan, smoothing the top with the back of a spoon, and bake for 25 to 28 minutes. A knife poked in the center of the pan should emerge clean but moist. Cool the brownies in the pan for at least 10 minutes before cutting them.



Notes:
I didn't have any walnuts so I used pecans ... SO GOOD. Also, I heated the butter and such in the microwave it was easy and had little clean up (because I could just stick the bowl in the dishwasher rather than have to clean a pot). I also sprinkled nestle semi-sweet chocolate chips on top of the brownies before I put them in the oven. This added an extra level of deliciousness!

Cheers!
-Emma