So we had family over the last weekend and it was the perfect excuse for me to bake! I am incapable of having guests  over with no sweet treats at the ready for the “just in case” situations. I love everything chocolate and brownies are great for sharing because they are so casual and unceremonious.  We had these with pistachio ice cream – a match made in heaven! For this recipe I actually doubled the amount of ingredients because I used a pan larger than the 8″ square the original recipe calls for. Also, since I like my chocolate dark I swapped half of the semi-sweet chocolate for unsweetened. They came out rich and a little moist with a distinct cocoa flavour. They made me happy 🙂

Ingredients:

• 12 tbsp unsalted butter
• 6 oz coarsely chopped unsweetened chocolate
• 6 oz coarsely chopped semi-sweet chocolate (set aside 2 oz to mix in at the end)
• 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tsp pure vanilla extract

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F. Butter and line a rectangle 13″ x 9″ baking pan with parchment paper.

2.  Put butter, chocolate, and cocoa in a thick bottomed pan over a very low heat. Stir until butter and chocolate are melted, but make sure they don’t get scorched. Let cool slightly.

3.  Whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt in a separate bowl. Set aside.

4.  Put sugar, eggs, and vanilla in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk on medium speed until pale, about 3-5 mins. Slowly add the chocolate mixture and beat until combined. Add the flour mix, beat until homogeneous, then work in the remaining chocolate chunks with a spatula.

5.  Scoop out your batter into the pan smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for about 30-35 mins until a skewer inserted into the cake comes out with a few crumbs, but is not wet. Let cool slightly in a pan before cutting into squares.