Seriously Fudgy Homemade Brownies from Sally's Baking Addiction

Seriously Fudgy Homemade Brownies - made July 26, 2022 from Sally's Baking Addiction 

3/4 cup unsalted butter

4 ounces semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped

2 cups granulated sugar

3 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup (82 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup (125 grams) all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 1/4 cups chocolate chips, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, melt butter and 2 ounces semisweet chocolate, whisking until completely melted and smooth.
3. Remove from heat and add granulated sugar, eggs and vanilla extract, whisking until completely combined.
4. In a small bowl, whisk together cocoa powder, flour and salt. Add to melted chocolate mixture, stirring with a wooden spoon until combined. Fold in remaining semisweet chocolate and chocolate chips if using.
5. Bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the corner comes out clean but a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Do not overbake. Remove from oven and let cool before cutting and serving.

I think I need to remake these again and leave off the Nutella Crunch topping so I can give the "plain" brownies an honest rating. Because I love this topping so much, I'd probably eat it off cardboard.

Nevertheless, I *think* this was a good brownie. It might not have been as fudgy as it should have been but that was user error. Meaning I turned the oven off and meant to leave the brownies in there for another 2 minutes to make sure it wasn't too underbaked. 10 minutes and a few answered emails later, underbaked wasn't a problem. Yes, I forgot it in the oven. And also, yes, good thing the oven was already turned off. But still, these baked longer than I intended.

That didn't seem to have done it too much harm, according to the people I shared these with but I think they too loved the topping so they forgave any deficiencies in the base. So I'll log the recipe here for now with a reminder to myself to come back another time and bake just the brownie (and to bake them properly without forgetting them in the oven). Recipes from Sally's Baking Addiction are usually on the mark so I'm sure the original brownie would be just fine without the topping.