“Pricey” Brownies

At some point after we started dating my now husband decided that box-mix brownies were a waste of time. He came up with the following recipe and it has stood the test of time. These are a dense, slightly chewy, brownie with a deep chocolate taste.

The name “pricey” comes from the fact that Ted calls for high quality chocolate. We typically use a bittersweet chocolate that we get from King Arthur Flour. The original recipe called for Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Chocolate. We’ve used the Ghiradelli Bittersweet Chocolate Baking Bar with good success. The use of chocolate chips, no matter the quality, isn’t allowed when Ted makes these. 🙂

“Pricey” Brownies
Servings: 18 3″x2″ brownies
Prep time: 20 minutes
Total time: 44 minutes

Ingredients:

• 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into chunks
• 4 oz. bittersweet chocolate, cut into slivers for melting
• 10 Tbsp. unsalted butter
• 170 grams all-purpose flour
• 1 3/8 oz. Dutch Process cocoa
• 1 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
• 3 lg. eggs
• 1/4 tsp. baking soda
• 1/2 tsp. kosher salt

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Make sling from a sheet of parchment paper in 13″x9″ metal baking pan, allowing the excess to stick out above the wide sides.
2. Melt 4 oz. slivered chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stir to combine and allow to cool slightly.
3. While the the chocolate melts whisk together the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Beat the vanilla and eggs together with a fork to combine.
5. Add the sugar to the melted chocolate & butter. Stir to incorporate and then add the vanilla/eggs. Mix well.
6. Add the dry ingredients and combine. Only stir enough so that most of the dry ingredients are mixed in. A few bits of flour or cocoa are OK.
7. Add the chocolate chunks and combine.
8. Spread the batter evenly into the baking pan. Do your best to spread into one even layer.
9. Bake for 24 minutes, rotating the pan 180° about half way through.
10. Ideally you should let these cool before eating. Good luck with that.

Notes:
Putting “pricey” into real terms the pan of brownies probably costs around $10. Certainly more expensive than a box mix; definitely worth it if you have a ready source of good chocolate.