Ina Garten's Brownies

This recipe uses a lot of butter & a lot of chocolate, but then again, it produces a LOT of brownies. I like that! I usually double a recipe anyway but with this one I didn't have to. These brownies are super fudgy. Not cakey at all. The edges are crunchy but still moist. The brownies rose during baking, right up to the edge of the pan, but deflated upon cooling. On Food Network website, these brownies received wonderful reviews but the few negative words were mostly, "too greasy or oily". I don't even get that. They were nowhere near greasy. Very moist...yes, but not at all greasy. Indeed they use a pound of butter, but it also makes about double the amount of the usual recipe. I used up some more of my leftover Easter candy. This time, Reeses peanut butter cups, the mini ones. I simply cut them in half. Since I made 2 separate pans, I only mixed the peanut butter cups into 1 pan. The other pan got milk chocolate chips. Both were fantastic. These brownies taste delish warm, but need to cool completely before they are really sturdy. They produce that nice crackly top that you sometimes get on brownies. I don't know why I didn't line my pans with foil like I usually do but these slipped right out of the pan after they cooled and I cut them. No problems. I guess the only negative about these brownies is the amount of chocolate & butter. They are expensive to make, especially if you are using a high quality chocolate. You could probably experiment with the darkness of the chocolate. I actually used a bit less unsweetened & more semi sweet so mine were probably a bit sweeter but I don't like really dark chocolate. You could use less or more coffee. And of course there are many different mix ins you could use as well.
But even though these are kind of pricey I still highly recommend these if you like a moist fudge like brownie.

Outrageous Brownies

Ina Garten

foodnetwork.com

Ingredients

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs (I used 7 large eggs)
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules (I used 1 teaspoon instant espresso powder)
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts (I left out the walnuts)

(I baked my brownies in two 9x9 inch square pans. One pan I mixed in Guittard milk chocolate chips & the other pan I used chunks of Reeses Peanut Butter cups)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet. (I used two 9x9 square pans)

Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. (I used a large glass bowl in the microwave at 50% power) Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.
Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. (I removed from oven when moist crumbs stuck to toothpick) Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.