Dark Chocolate Brownies

Dark Chocolate Brownies - made February 1, 2014 from The Pioneer Woman

Although I have a plethora of tried and tested brownie recipes, there are so many great-looking ones out there that I almost always try out a new recipe when I need to make brownies rather than using the ones I already know are good. It's not like I'm searching for the ultimate brownie recipe or anything because I have a stableful of great ones already. I just like any excuse to try a new recipe and any excuse to make brownies. Like I need one, ha.

The Pioneer Woman is always a fun show for me to watch. I'm hardly ever home when it's on but I did stumble upon when it regularly airs and started DVR'ing the show. Then I watch the recorded shows in the morning while I work out. Yes, I do recognize the irony of that. I didn't actually get this recipe from watching her show but I did see it on pinterest (where else?) so I trailed the pin back to her blog and went from there. The directions say you can bake it in an 8 x 8 pan or a 9 x 13. I had no intention of making thin brownies so I went with the smaller pan. I like the thickness that resulted and probably would only have made this in a larger pan if I was making brownie ice cream sandwiches and needed thinner brownies. I didn't bake mine as long as the directions suggested and you can see it came out pretty fudgy. With the high chocolate content, that's okay because I'd rather have the chocolate set into a fudgy texture than to overbake the brownies and have them be dry. As the recipe title says, these are pretty dark chocolate brownies. The dark cocoa (I used Dutch processed unsweetened cocoa that I bought from Penzey's) added more chocolate depth and the unsweetened chocolate provided the base. Even the relatively high amount of sugar didn't mute the dark chocolate flavor.

1 cup butter
5 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 cups sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups flour
3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a medium-large saucepan, melt the butter with the unsweetened chocolate over low heat, whisking occasionally until smooth and melted. Sprinkle in cocoa powder and whisk to combine. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool for about 5 minutes.
3. Stir in sugar and vanilla until just combined.
4. One at a time, stir in the eggs.
5. Gently stir in the flour until halfway incorporated. Add the chocolate chips and stir just until combined.
6. Pour batter into a greased 8 x 8 or 9 x 13 baking pan. Spread to even out the top and place in the oven.
7. Bake for 40 minutes, then check the brownies with a toothpick. If it is overly gooey/messy, return to the oven for 5 to 10 more minutes. (I only baked mine for less than 30 minutes.)
8. Allow to cool completely before cutting and serving.