Tell me if you hate this scenario as much as I do: You’re at your child’s school bake sale. You carefully choose the biggest, richest, most homemade-est looking brownie and bite in—only to discover a bait-and-switch job. That masquerading scratch-baked bar is really a chalky packaged brownie. What a waste of 300 calories.
You’ll never feel that way about Christine’s Luscious Ultra Rich Bitter Chocolate Brownies—the best brownie you’ll ever eat. I know everyone claims theirs is the world’s best brownie recipe. But they lie.
I’ve tasted brownies made with sour cream, marzipan, rum, chocolate chips, chopped cherries and coffee grounds (yes, really). They don’t compare.
And I don’t know why: Christine’s Brownies break the rules of no lesser chocolate authority than Rose Beranbaum of The Cake Bible fame. Beranbaum claims the deepest chocolate taste comes from quality, unsweetened cocoa.
Christine uses bitter, unsweetened, butter-fatty baking chocolate. A whole half pound. And quite a bit of butter, sugar and eggs. Not exactly unusual brownie ingredients. But wait until you taste.
I believe the key to these Luscious Ultra Rich Bitter Chocolate Brownies lies in trust: You have to trust that, after baking for 30 minutes, the brownie’s center—the batter in the middle of the pan that looks just a little dark and wet—will continue baking after you swoop the pan out of the oven.
If you get nervous and wait until the center looks “done,” you’re toast. Just five minutes extra bake time and Christine’s Brownie’s lose their luscious moistness.
Christine’s Luscious Ultra Rich Bitter Chocolate Brownies are named after their creator, a great scratch cook and our family friend, Christine Missakian Pinella.
They are an indulgent treat alone. But in the summer, we go for overkill, serving Christine’s Brownies with creamy, homemade ice cream. Long live seasonal hedonism!
Christine’s Luscious Ultra Rich Bitter Chocolate Brownies Recipe
1 cup plus one tablespoon butter
8 ounces dark, unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
2 1/2 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup plus 1 tablespoon flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup chopped hazelnuts, pecans or walnuts
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Using a tablespoon of butter, liberally grease an 9″x13″ baking pan. Dust pan with one tablespoon flour and discard remaining flour.
- In a large saucepan over lowest flame, melt butter and chocolate, stirring occasionally. You may also melt butter and chocolate in your microwave, nuking the mixture for ten seconds at a time and stirring after each heating. When melted, stir butter and chocolate to blend and set aside to cool.
- In a small mixing bowl or large measure, blend flour and salt.
- In a large bowl, beat eggs until thick and light in color. Add sugar in four batches, beating after each addition. Whip eggs and sugar until very pale yellow and doubled in volume.
- Turn down mixer to lowest speed and add cooled chocolate.
- With mixer remaining on lowest speed, blend in vanilla.
- Add flour to chocolate mixture and blend thoroughly on lowest speed.
- Add nuts, stirring with a wooden spoon to blend. Alternatively, you may sprinkle nuts on top of brownie batter after spooning it into the pan: This allows you to bake some nut-free brownies for people who dislike nuts (my husband).
- Spoon brownie batter into prepared pan and smooth top of batter. Sprinkle nuts over batter, if desired.
- Slide pan into oven and bake 30-40 minutes. Check the brownies for doneness after 30 minutes and thereafter at 2 minute intervals. When brownies are done, the center of the pan should be soft, but not liquid.
- Remove brownies from oven. Let cool for 10-15 minutes before slicing into 2 1/2 inch squares. Remove to cookie racks to cool.
Makes a dozen brownies.
