Bodacious Brownies

People don’t say bodacious anymore, do they? Or did they really ever say it at all? As a total dork, I looked up the exact definition of “bodacious” and m-w.com offers this: “The bodacious decor of the boutique hotel is intended to appeal to the young and the hip.” That is one fantastic sentence.

Back to our regularly scheduled programming…

I had heard great things about the brownie recipe in The Essential New York Times Cookbook, so I wanted to give it a try!

Here’s what you need:

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. all purpose flour (haha, did you see that I took a picture of the wrong flour. Thankfully, I noticed. Be sure to use all-purpose!)
• 1/4 tsp. salt
• 4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate (I used one ounce of bittersweet chocolate and three ounces of semisweet chocolate)
• 8 tablespoons unsalted butter
•  1 cup of white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp. vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

2. Line an 8×8 pan with parchment paper (you can use foil, but I always use parchment paper when working with baked goods).

3. Sift together the flour and the salt. Set aside.

4. You can use a double boiler to melt the chocolate and butter together. I don’t think to make things harder than they need to be, so I just microwaved the chocolate and butter. Make sure you use the microwave melting instructions on the bag of the chocolate you are using! No one wants seized chocolate. Once everything is shiny and smooth, set aside.

Mmmmm…shiny yumminess. Try not to lick the whisk. 

5. Beat the eggs and sugar together. Mix in the melted chocolate and vanilla extract until well-incorporated.

6. Add in the flour a little at a time until combined.

7. Bake for 25-35 minutes (this will totally depend on your oven, mine required about 30 minutes, but you might want to start checking your brownies earlier than that). Use a toothpick to test doneness (it should be mostly clean, but a little wetness is ok).

8. Cool for 5 minutes, then lift brownies out of the pan and let cool completely before cutting into 12 squares.

Hmm…brownie is looking a little lonely on that plate…

There we go. That’s better.

I thought these brownies were quite good. I thought the chocolate flavor could have been a bit more intense, but the sweetness level was perfect. They were nice and chewy too. Give them a try! You won’t be disappointed.

 

 

Tagged as: brownies, caramel, chocolate, ice cream