Brownies Extraordinaire

This, dear friends, is what I call the perfect brownie.  It's soft; not like the texture of being under-cooked.  It has crunch, just a little on its crust.  And it has pockets of melt-in-your-mouth-honest-to-goodness-the-best-tasting-chocolate-dark chocolate. And (I love starting a sentence with the word-and-when there is no red pen present to mark it up) I feel it is a must that you make these with sea salt.  Sea salt doesn't really dissolve in cooking, so as you eat (whatever you're making), you hit grains of salt.  Hmmmm, so nice.  Now I also am a believer in a good quality dark chocolate.  My favorite is Valrhona.  For one of our dinners, I ordered this chocolate from New York on dry ice!  I have since found that I could buy it a bit more local.  Fresh Market used to carry it, and I've bought it at Whole Foods before.  If you can't find it, Scharffen Berger is a good choice and you can pick it up at Fresh Market.  If you really want to take this over-the-top, buy Valrhona cocoa powder.  It just doesn't get much better than this.  Be prepared to eat the whole pan.  Maybe not at one sitting.  But you will eat it.  It's better to plan on inviting some friends over, and save on the waist-line.  Or hips.

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon kosher salt

3/4 lb. (3 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-tablespoons pieces

3 large eggs

1 3/4 cups granulated sugar

1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

6 oz. 61 to 64% chocolate chopped into chip-sized pieces (about 1 1/2 cups)

Powdered sugar for dusting

Preheat the oven to 350.  Butter and flour a 9-inch square pan.  Set aside.  Sift together the flour, cocoa powder, and salt; set aside.

do you sift your dry ingredients? It's a good habit to acquire

Melt half the butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring occasionally.  Put the remaining butter in a bowl.  Pour the melted butter over the bowl of butter and stir to melt the butter.  It should look creamy, and have small bits of butter, and be at room temperature.

a bit more stirring...

In a bowl with a stand mixer fitted with a paddle, mix together the eggs and sugar on medium speed for about 3 minutes, or until thick and pale. Mix in the vanilla. On low speed, add about one-third of the dry ingredients, then add one-third of the butter, and continue alternating the remaining flour and butter.

still a lot of big pieces here...I do tend to leave a few that are bigger than "chip size"

Add the chocolate and mix to combine.  Spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until cake tester comes out with just a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Be sure you're not hitting a piece of the chocolate. Cool in the pan till just warmer than room temperature.  Run a knife around the edges and invert onto a cutting board. Dust with powdered sugar just before serving.

enjoy!

Recipe from: ad hoc at home     Thomas Keller