On the weekend, I had seen an episode of America's Test Kitchen that started with an experiment--a head-to-head blind taste test comparing homemade brownies to the kind you make from a box. The box brownies won by a landslide. I was inclined to agree. I was raised on box brownies--my grandma used to make them and then cover them with chocolate frosting (and she would sometimes let me have a brownie for breakfast... if mom wasn't around), and no matter how much I want to stop using mixes, I was pretty sure the grandma brownie standard would never be met with real ingredients. I've tried various brownie recipes before, and while they all have awesome chocolate flavor, the texture tends to be lacking--dry, crumbly, and nothing like you get from the box stuff. Turns out the Test Kitchen folks came to a similar conclusion, and were determined to come up with a recipe that would rival the mix. My mind was sufficiently blown as I watched this play out, so I knew it wouldn't be too long before I tried the recipe myself. Four days later, I had a giant pan of these in my kitchen.
I'll go ahead and call myself a fairly well qualified brownie tester. These did NOT disappoint. So much so that my good intentions of sharing were shattered after the second bite.
This recipe is very easy to throw together, and if you have a moderately well-stocked kitchen, you probably have all the ingredients already (which is VERY handy when you're snowed in, I might add...). The real challenge--believe me--is waiting TWO AND A HALF HOURS for them to cool completely. That was torturous, but worth it in the long run. I cut all the brownies into reasonable portions before packing them away. If brownies are your weakness, I would strongly recommend doing so--if I hadn't, I'd be passing a quarter of the pan off as "one brownie".
Better-than-Boxed Brownies
-1/3 c. Dutch processed cocoa powder
-1 1/2 t. espresso powder
-5 oz. boiling water
-2 oz. bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
-4 T. unsalted butter, melted
-5. oz. vegetable oil
-2 large eggs
-2 large egg yolks
-2 t. vanilla extract
-2 1/2 c. sugar
-1 3/4 c. flour
-3/4 t. salt
-3-6 oz. bittersweet chocolate pieces or chips (I used ~3 oz. of chips)
1. In a large bowl, whisk together cocoa powder and espresso powder. Add the boiling water and whisk, then add chopped chocolate and whisk until melted.
2. Add in the melted butter, oil, eggs, egg yolks, and vanilla, whisking after each addition until the mixture is smooth.
3. Whisk in the sugar until smooth, then fold in the flour and salt with a spatula until combined. Add in the chocolate chips.
4. Pour batter into a 13"x9" baking dish that has been lined with aluminum foil slings and coated with non-stick spray. Bake on the bottom rack at 350* for 30-35 minutes, until a toothpick comes out with a few crumbs attached.
5. Cool in the pan on a wire rack for 90 minutes. Use the foil sling to lift the brownies out of the pan, and let rest on the rack for an additional hour, until completely cool.
I was ready to go at this with a spoon.
Giant brownie or tiny plate? You'll never know...
