Fudge Brownies

Recipe From: Laura

Be still my brownie lovin' heart.💝  Rich, Decadent, Mouthwatering  Chocolatey Fudge  Brownies. mmmmmmm....  yes please. 😋  Served at Labor Day BBQ.

1 cup 8oz butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons  vegetable or coconut oil

1/2 cups  sugar

1 1/2 cup  light brown sugar

4 large eggs, at room temperature

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

1 cup all purpose flour

1 cup good quality, unsweetened cocoa powder*see tips*

5 oz roughly chopped dark chocolate OR large chocolate chip chunks

1/2 c. - 3/4 c. chopped nuts, optional   

                                          

* See tips below before getting started.*

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Line with parchment paper an 8x12-inch square baking pan*see tips 

Combine melted butter, oil and sugars together in a medium-sized bowl. Whisk well to combine. Add the eggs and vanilla; beat 1 more min., until lighter in color.

Sift in flour, cocoa powder and salt. Gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients until  JUST combined* (do NOT over beat as doing so will affect the texture of your brownies).

Fold in 3/4 of the chocolate pieces.

Pour batter into prepared pan, smoothing the top out evenly, and top with remaining chocolate pieces.

Bake for 25-30 minutes or until the center of the brownies in the pan no longer jiggles and is just set to the touch (the brownies will keep baking in the hot pan out of the oven). If testing with a toothpick, the toothpick should come out dirty for fudge-textured brownies.

After 10 minutes, carefully remove them out of the pan and allow to cool to room temperature before slicing into  brownies.

Frost these babies if you'd like.  I whipped up this frosting for the topping....                           

Frosting: 

1/2 c. semisweet choc. chips  

1/4 c. heavy whipping cream  

1/2 Tbsp. butter  

Melt on low in saucepan. 

Store at room temperature for 3 days, or refrigerator for up to 5 days. These brownies can also be frozen for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight the refrigerator and bring to room temperature before serving OR reheat in the microwave.

*Recipe Tips*

1. For thicker brownies, bake in a 7x11-inch pan for 40-45 minutes. For thinner brownies, bake in a 9x13-inch pan for 18-20 minutes.  Per original recipe, an 8x12-inch pan bakes the most perfect brownies to get that desired thickness and texture.  I have a 8x12 pan if you would like  to borrow it.

2.Do NOT over beat your batter once the flour and cocoa powder are added. That creates air pockets in the batter which will give you cake-like textured brownies.

3.Try not to over bake them. I like mine at  25 minutes in an 8x12-inch pan. You can go a little bit over if you like them set a bit more. They will continue to bake slightly in the hot pan once pulled out of the oven. Every oven is different so you may have to watch them at 25 and increase every couple min. to see how set you like your brownies. I would say try not to bake anymore than 30 min. 

4.I bake my brownies on the oven rack that is second to the top .  I find the middle rack cooks them a lot faster, slightly burns them on the top and dries them out.

5. It really helps to use parchment paper as a liner in brownie pan for easier clean up. Also, when pan is lined with parchment paper, it makes it much easier when cutting brownies.  Just grab both sides of paper 'overhang' &  take entire thing of brownies out of pan to cut after they have cooled. 

6. I used organic cane sugar to justify eating these ! haha maybe Less guilt?! right? :)   If you're going to bake with org. cane sugar, it  is a lil more coarse than regular sugar.  I used my blender, and ground it down a little bit to a powder. 

7.Believe it or not, it makes a big difference when you use a high quality Dutch cocoa.   The difference between a chocolatey chocolate dessert and a kind-of-chocolatey-but-not-really-hitting-the-spot chocolate dessert is in the cocoa powder.   Do a taste test of a hi quality cocoa & regular cocoa. They dont even compare . Hi quality cocoa you can eat straight from the spoon.  Not so with regular cocoa. Remember being tricked as a kid to take a bite of 'chocolate' thinking how awesome it would taste?  :)  LOL.  Yea..... Quite bitter, as you recall? :)    In its raw state, cocoa powder is naturally acidic. When it comes to baking,  its best to choose a  Dutch-processed cocoa. The cocoa powder is treated with an alkali solution, which neutralizes some of the acidity. The process darkens the color and typically deepens the flavor.  I used Mactaggarts brand cocoa from Boise Co-Op.