I know. I know. Everyone has the BEST brownie recipe. Maybe that used to be true. But not now. Because after you taste my Chocolate Velvet Brownies–Best Brownies Ever, you will never make brownies any other way.
True, I love brownies. So perhaps I am a bit biased about these. I must have collected at least 200 brownie recipes over the years. But I always come back to the process of making brownies that is set out in the original Joy of Cooking. I grew up seeing this cookbook on the kitchen counter every day of my childhood. It was my mothers “go- to” cookbook for all the basics.
Over the years I find myself getting inspiration from this now well-worn book that has definitely withstood the test of time. I like to put my own spin on some of the old standards. Changing them, not because they are not great in their original form, but altering them in a way that adds ingredients or variations on ingredients that I find really enhances the flavors.
Adding ingredients is one thing. Ad-libbing when it comes to baking is an absolute no go. When baking, you must follow every direction TO THE LETTER. There are certain principles of baking to which you must adhere. So while all cooks do or should put a premium on creativity, certain basic rules must be followed as written. Funny how that is also true in life in the larger sense as well. Try telling that to your kids.
But accept this fact. Sometimes you just have to toe the line and follow the rules or the world goes to hell in a handbasket. Same with brownies. Let the eggs come to room temperature.
The melted butter and chocolate must be cool before adding it to the eggs. You must beat the eggs with just a little bit of sugar at a time. Don’t just dump all of the sugar in at once or the eggs will not absorb it and become fluffy, fluffy, fluffy. See the fluffy egg photo. Isn’t that what everyone has always wanted? Perfection. And so on and so forth. No cheating.
Read the recipe carefully and you will have the best brownies–texture and tastewise –you have ever eaten. IF IF IF you use the best chocolate. Although people pay lip service to the important principle of great cooking and baking–ALWAYS USE THE FINEST INGREDIENTS– I think sometimes we don’t always follow that rule. With brownies, it is essential that you buy the best chocolate. This does not mean the most expensive. It means the best in terms of quality.
I used a combination of a full (4 oz) bar of Ghirardelli Unsweetened Chocolate and a one-ounce block of Baker’s Unsweetened Chocolate. You can also use any combination of unsweetened chocolate. I just find this works best to create the perfect flavor profile–not too sweet, not too bitter. Just right. I have been reading Goldilocks to my granddaughter lately so that is what came to mind when I thought of how the chocolate combination should go!
So if you follow the rules of the recipe down to the last detail and buy the best chocolate, I promise you will have the most fabulous –“I ate them out of the pan burning hot I couldn’t help it–” brownies you have ever eaten.
And by the way, sticking religiously to the rules also applies to the length of time the brownies are baked. They may look a bit soupy in the middle after 25 minutes but you will not regret pulling them out and eating them when they are meltingly rich and delicious. Pity that your family and friends won’t get a chance to try them because they will be all gone!
These are incredibly easy and quick (despite the cooling time) and I promise, they will become a favorite.The things that make them really special and take the flavors to new heights is adding to a traditional brownie batter, delicious Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Baking chunks (you just can’t have too much chocolate), a tablespoon of good strong coffee (made from a Starbucks Via Colombia packet) to bump up the chocolate flavor (trendy trick) and two tablespoons of Valrohana European cocoa powder to make the brownies even darker and richer.
I know this seems like a lot of picky detail but you can substitute any brand of chocolate for the batter, cocoa powder, or chunks. It’s just that if you want the GREATEST BROWNIES EVER MADE, trust me and go to Amazon and order yourself all of these things and make batch after batch after batch. It all just works together to create a masterpiece in a baking pan that everyone will find irresistible.
Pour yourself a glass of cold milk, have a warm brownie or two and the world will seem to be a much sweeter place. Literally and figuratively. Let’s hope.
Chocolate Velvet Brownies
Ingredients
- 4 ounces unsalted butter at room temperature plus 1 tablespoon for greasing the baking pan
- 4 ounce bar of Ghirardelli unsweetened baking chocolate
- 1 ounce Baker’s unsweetened chocolate
- 4 eggs at room temperature
- 2 cups sugar
- 1 ½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoons packet Starbucks Via instant coffee mixed with 2 tablespoons boiling water and cooled completely
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons Valrohona 100% cocoa powder or other pure cocoa powder
- 6 ounce bag Scharffen Berger Bittersweet Baking Chunks or other high quality chocolate chunks
Instructions
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Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
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Butter a 9" x 13" glass baking pan with 1 tablespoon of butter.
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Put the chocolate bar and the one square of unsweetened chocolate in a microwave- safe glass 4 cup measuring cup along with the stick of butter.
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Put a paper towel on top of the measuring cup and microwave for one minute. Stir with a fork and microwave for another 30 seconds. Continue this process until the butter is melted but do not overcook the mixture or it will solidify. It should not take longer than two minutes. Remove from the microwave when there is still some chocolate left to melt into the butter so you do not overcook it. Set the mixture aside until it is completely cool, at least 30 minutes.
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Put the room temperature eggs, salt, and vanilla in a medium sized bowl. Add the sugar, ¼ cup at a time, mixing for one minute before adding another ¼ cup. Continue beating the eggs and sugar until you have done so for a total of 5 minutes. The eggs will be very light and fluffy.
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Add the chocolate and butter mixture to the bowl and beat just until combined along with the coffee.
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In a large strainer put the flour and the Valrohona or other cocoa powder. Shake the strainer over the bowl of the chocolate mixture, leaving it in a mountain of powder over the wet batter. Add the entire package of Scharffen Berger Baking Chunks on top of the flour and cocoa mixture and fold all of it into the batter with a rubber spatula. This process allows the chocolate chunks to get coated with the dry flour mixture and they won’t sink to the bottom of the pan. Do not use the mixer for this step or the brownies will not be the right texture.
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Scrape the brownie batter into the buttered glass pan and bake on the top shelf for 25 minutes.
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Let the brownies cool completely before cutting them. They keep best in a tightly sealed glass dish or you can freeze them, individually wrapped in foil.