♥ Dark Chocolate Espresso Brownies: Yes, just another Brownie Recipe to add to the Internet. ♥

 

    If there's one dessert I'm more picky about than cake, it'd probably have to be brownies. Everyone has pet peeves, right? Well, being that I can be a bit of a baking snob, I have tons of baked good pet peeves.

    The main offender?

    Cake-like Brownies.

    I honestly try to respect everyone and their opinions, I do. But for crying out loud: if you're going to eat a brownie, then people, please, for the love of God, just let it be the brownie it's supposed to be and make it fudgy. If you want a dry, non-fudgy "cake" brownie, then just eat a piece of chocolate cake. Problem solved.

    Clearly, I'm all for fudgy brownies: the richer, the better. So, obviously I'd post a recipe for an extremely fudgy brownie: never anything less, but you know..again, the more (fudgy), the merrier. :)

    Now, before I ramble on about how this recipe is probably the best brownie recipe out there, or how these brownies will just completely blow any other recipe you have out of the water...I'm just going to point out now that no, these probably aren't the most amazing brownies you've ever had, but to me, they come about as close as I've had.

    From blog to blog, bakers have adjusted and tweaked their brownie recipes to their likings, many using the oh-so famous brownie recipe from Ina Garten, my mother and I's cooking/baking hero. We've never tried her recipe for her outstanding brownies, but at this point, I think I'm perfectly okay with mine.

    These brownies are pretty much my go-to brownie recipe when I'm being my typical baking-snob-self and refuse to make them from the box (even though box brownies were one of my favorite things as a kid, and nothing can replace their nostalgic taste). This recipe can pretty much be tweaked to your liking: the chocolates can be varied from dark, to semi-sweet, or even to milk if you'd like. And, the espresso is optional: I personally love the combination of dark chocolate and coffee, especially since the coffee really brings out the chocolate flavor. My combination of choice is dark chocolate, espresso, and a few chocolate chunks thrown in here and there, so I suggest that. But, if you like nuts, marshmallows, or anything else not mentioned here, feel free to throw 'em in during the last step. They are your brownies after all: it's all up to you!

   This recipe is extremely simple to make. In fact, it doesn't even require any bowls! All you need is a large sauce pan, and you're good to go. I've made this recipe over 10 times (I used it for my final project in Cooking Class this year, which was a Cooking Demonstration. After making it once and messing it up due to my mis-reading of the ingredients, then once more when trying it again, then another 4 times before and during the demo, plus all the other times I've made it just for my friends and family...I can now truthfully say this a 1OO% CupcakeGirl approved recipe!) Even the most unskillful pre-chefs can make it, and I'm 1OO% sure they'll come out perfect.

    So brownie-lovers...Are you ready for some intense-chocolate-mouth-explosions? Yes? Yippee!

Dark Chocolate Espresso Brownies

Ingredients:
♥ 1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
♥ 1 1/2 cups (12 ounces) dark chocolate (or, semi-sweet, milk, or bittersweet: it's your preference!)
♥ 1 cup white sugar (I realized I only had brown sugar on hand when I made them last, but they still worked fine.)
♥ 3 eggs
♥ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
♥ 1/2 teaspoon salt
♥ 3/4 cup flour (I usually use all-purpose [I always prefer unbleached], but wheat works,too)
♥ Walnuts, chocolate chunks, marshmallows, or any other preferred additions (for espresso flavor, I added 1/3 cup hot espresso made with instant espresso powder; regular hot coffee works just as well, too.)

1.) Preheat oven to 350°. Spray a baking pan with non-stick spray. (I prefer my brownies moderately thick, so I used a 9 by 9 pan.)
2.) In a large sauce pan, melt butter over medium heat on stove. Add chocolate, and stir until melted together.

3.) Whisk in sugar directly into chocolate-butter mixture until completely combined. Remove from heat.

4.) Whisk in eggs, vanilla, and salt. Add flour and mix until completely combined and smooth. (To ensure my salt didn't get clumped into one spot, I just sifted it quickly into the flour before adding it.)

5.) Mix in any extra additions, and add batter to pan. For my 9 by 9 pan, I baked them for 25-30 minutes. For anything bigger, I'd say time it for 20 minutes and go from there. Brownies will be ready when a toothpick inserted in comes out clean (I usually like my brownies a little undercooked though, so...). Let brownies cool for at least 30 minutes before cutting to ensure a smooth, clean cut. But, if you like hot, fresh brownies...dig in right away!

   The night I baked these, my younger cousins unexpectedly (to my other sister and I, who had no idea my siblings invited them over) dropped by for a sleepover, and I felt obliged to make them some sort of treat while they were here. Brownies seemed easiest (and c'mon; who doesn't love brownies?), and well....you can guess how much they were enjoyed.

Ready to have a choco-fudge-gasm? 
If not..well, we may have a problem then.

Enjoy!

♥