The Perfect Brownie
My friend Donna's birthday is tomorrow...on Valentine's Day! I saw her earlier this week and asked, "So, what are you guys doing for your 'Birthday-slash-Valentine's Day'? Any big plans?" She told me that in addition to taking her boys to see the new Spongebob movie, her husband Mike was trying to find the perfect brownie recipe for her big "Birthday-slash-Valentine's Day" celebration.
"Brownies?" I asked, intrigued.
She told me she's not in the mood for cake this year. She and her Mike have been testing different brownie recipes, but the search for The Perfect Brownie was proving elusive. Some turn out too cake-like. I mean, cake is good and all, but she wanted a brownie. Some turn out too fudge-like. Again, fudge is awesome, but it's not a brownie. She was like Goldilocks. A Brunette, Brownie-Eating Goldilocks. She couldn't find the brownie that was just right. I totally understood her plight.
(Suddenly, I remembered a brownie recipe from mypast. Way, way back in time. Back in the '90s I was in my very first bookclub, and we read a book by Ruth Reichl called Tender At The Bone. Reichl was a restaurant critic and she wrote this wonderful food memoir. In it she included a recipe for what she called "Artpark Brownies". I copied the recipe into my old-school recipe binder and made them for our bookclub meeting.
They. Were. Awesome. We all decided right then and there that they were the perfect brownie.)
"OOH!" I said to Donna. "I just remembered! I have a recipe for brownies that I loved back in the day! I haven't made them for years, though; I'm not sure why. Do you want the recipe?"
Of course she did. Who says no to a brownie recipe? So when I got home, I took out my old-school binder and there was the recipe in all its splattered glory:
My old-school recipe binder. Kids, this is how people saved recipes before Pinterest.
I typed out the recipe and emailed it to her, and as soon as I hit "send" they immediately started to haunt me. I was thinking about them. Dreaming about them. Seeing them in my mind's eye. Smelling them in my mind's nose (which is totally a thing). Mmmm, brownies....
I even googled "Artpark Brownies" and the recipe has survived into the internet age! And every online review said some variation of the following: "OMG, these are the best brownies!"
Of course they continued to haunt my dreams....
Well, tomorrow is Valentine's Day which is really all about the chocolate and Alex had a half day of school today and we were bored this afternoon and needed an activity and the brownies were still on my mind...
Whatever, I'm not exactly building suspense here. We made the brownies.
And you know what? They. Are. Awesome.
Here's what you need if the idea of brownies is starting to distract you, too:
the ingredients
butter
flour
sugar
salt
unsweetened chocolate
eggs
vanilla
A mere seven ingredients stand between you and brownie heaven!
Preheat the oven to 400F. Grease a 9"x9" pan. After doing that, my trusty Supervising Assistant and I set the butter and the chocolate to melt in a glass bowl over a pot of simmering water:
Then we stirred in a teaspoon of vanilla and set it aside to cool a bit.
Meanwhile, we put the four eggs and 1/2 teaspoon of salt in the mixer to combine. Then we added the sugar and beat on high speed for 10 minutes. This was Alex's favorite part:
You can use an electric hand mixer if you don't have a KitchenAid
Alex takes his job as Supervising Assistant very seriously.
After 10 minutes we poured the chocolate mixture into the bowl and mixed on low until just combined. I switched out the whisk attachment for the paddle attachment at this point. Then we dumped in the sifted flour and stirred until all the white streaks were gone:
Then we poured the batter into the prepared pan and put it in the oven. We immediately turned the oven temperature down to 350F and set the timer for 40 minutes.
Then I gave my trusty Supervising Assistant his earned reward:
The stuff childhood is made of. On second thought, this was his favorite part.
We pulled them out of the oven to cool and reveled in the glory of this:
Fresh out of the oven. The smell alone will make you grateful to be alive.
Now comes the hard part. You need to wait until they cool completely before you cut them. They are worth the wait. Because after the waiting comes this:
Now I know that up until this point I've said that these are perfect and the best thing ever and that they will make you feel lucky to be alive. And I believe this to be the truth. But these things are subjective, aren't they? One woman's perfect brownie is another woman's "meh". Let me explain why I love them so:
they have a lovely crusty top
they are the perfect ratio of fudgey and cakey. Not too fudgey, not to cakey. Goldilocks would totally approve.
they aren't overly sweet, which might sound like a bad thing, but it helps you really taste the chocolate.
the recipe says "Makes 12" but it actually makes 16 generous-sized brownies. This never happens to me. Ever.
You can click on this link for the recipe, or just follow along here. And Happy Birthday, Donna!!! I had to laugh when you told me today that all this recipe testing made you kind of sick of brownies, and that you will be enjoying cake for your birthday after all. Just know that when the jonesing for brownies reappears, (and you know it will), you'll have this recipe.
ARTPARK BROWNIES
2/3 cup butter
5 oz. unsweetened, best quality chocolate
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups sugar
1 cup sifted flour
Preheat the oven to 400F. Butter and flour a 9"x9" square baking pan. Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler, over boiling water. When melted, add vanilla and set aside.
Beat eggs and salt in mixer. Add sugar and beat at high speed for around 10 minutes, or until the mixture is quite white.
Add chocolate and butter mixture and beat at low speed, just until mixed. Add flour and combine quickly until there are no white streaks.
Pour batter into baking pan and put into oven. Immediately turn oven down to 350F and bake for 40 minutes. (The normal toothpick test will not work, but if you try it should come out not quite clean.) Do not overbake; these brownies should be fudgey.
Kathy Barden says
February 14, 2015 at 9:23 pm (Edit)
Waiting for these to bake. Now on to those fake Girl Scout cookies. we’ve wanted more of those since Christmas.
