Apron Afternoons: Rich Chocolate Brownies

It's as simple as that: brownies. But are brownies really that simple? Butter, sugar, some flour, and most importantly chocolate. Sounds easy enough. But for some reason, it seems that there are about a 1000 different ways a brownie can turn out. Too cakey (or not cakey enough, if you're into that), not gooey or fudgey, not enough chocolate. Then there's the question of whether or not to add chocolate chips and nuts to the batter. Maybe I'm over-analyzing this, but I'm on a mission to find the crème de la crème of brownie recipes, so a little analyzing is necessary.

There are two brownie recipes that have been on my mind for a while now. After much deliberation, I decided to make these very rich brownies. You would think this would be an easy decision because all brownies recipes are pretty much the same, right? Wrong. The recipe I decided on has about half the flour the other brownie recipe has and it doesn't call for brown sugar like the other recipe does. This recipe also calls for bittersweet chocolate whereas the other calls for semi-sweet chocolate. These are some pretty substantial differences between recipes. Again, maybe I'm over-analyzing, but I just wanted these brownies to be good. Can you blame me?

I like my brownies gooey, very fudgy, not cakey, and with that thin layer of crunch at the top...you know what I'm talking about. These brownies received top marks in every category. They weren't dense and not at all cakey. The bittersweet chocolate made them very rich (if only eating them would also make me rich.) The one problem I had was that they were rather crumbly. I only baked them for 30 minutes though (Again, I like em' gooey. Like almost chocolate fudge gooey), so maybe if I let them bake for a few more minutes they might have not been as crumbly. I plan to make the other brownie recipe I was talking about earlier, just so I can compare the two...and maybe also because I want some more brownies. Let's just call it a brownie project and it just so happens that I have to taste each brownie recipe...you know, for scientific reasons and what not. But until I can report back with the result of the next brownie recipe, do yourself a big favor and make these.

Rich Chocolate Brownies
- 8 oz. Chocolate (60-70% cocoa)
- 1/4 cup All-Purpose Flour
- 1/4 cup Cocoa Powder
- 1/2 tsp. Baking Powder
- 1 1/4 cup Sugar
- Pinch of Salt
- 8 oz.(2 sticks) Butter, softened
- 3 Eggs plus 1 Egg Yolk
- 1 1/2 tsp. Vanilla

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment paper.
2. Melt 7 ounces of chocolate over double-boiler and set aside to cool. Chop the remaining chocolate into small pieces.

3.Sift the flour, cocoa powder, salt, and baking powder into medium sized bowl.
4. With whisk attachment, beat the butter and sugar in mixing bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, together with a Tbsp. of dry ingredients.