my favorite brownies

But the thing is, I really wanted a brownie. And more so, I wanted my favorite brownies. And despite having an alphabet of brownie recipes on this site from Adorable Hearts to Baked Bakery to Cream Cheese, Cocoa, and Creme de Menthe, I actually haven’t shared my go-to brownie recipe in its purest form, what I dub my Forty Minute Naptime Brownies. And for that, we need to talk about, well, Jacob.

My favorite brownies take 10 minutes to put together and embody everything I love in a brownie; they’re bittersweet and chewy, where so many brownies are excessively sweet and fudgy (or worse, the dreaded cakey and chocolaty in color only). Like many of my favorite recipes, they’re defined not by what they have in them but what they don’t; there’s no brown sugar or brown butter, baking powder, Dutched cocoa, cake flour, nuts, coffee granules, chips or frosting. Seriously, I think if a brownie needs frosting to sing, it probably wasn’t a great brownie to begin with. There are seven ingredients and the most important one, as it should be, is the unsweetened chocolate. Why unsweetened chocolate? If you want a baked good with deeply rooted chocolate intensity without using a half-pound or more of chopped bars (these use just three ounces of chocolate, which means you can splurge on the best stuff), you’re going to have to start with unsweetened chocolate, every time. These brownies understand that.

And although they take well to all to all sorts of dolling up (from cream cheese to white chocolate mint ganache to being cubed and buried in cheesecake, true story), they need none of that to make for a speedy in preparation, cooking and clean-up time square of mood management, one you can tuck into even before your resident Nap Conscientious Objector (no more Malcolm X board books for you, kid!) wakes up. Because I don’t know about you, but when I decide I want a brownie, I want it exactly then. These brownies will not make you wait.

My Favorite Brownies

• 3 ounces (85 grams) unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped
• 1/2 cup (4 ounces or 115 grams) unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
• 1 1/3 cups (265 grams) granulated sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 1 teaspoon (5 ml) vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt or 1/4 teaspoon table salt
• 2/3 cup (85 grams) all-purpose flour

In a medium heatproof bowl over gently simmering water, melt chocolate and butter together until only a couple unmelted bits remain. Off the heat, stir until smooth and fully melted. You can also do this in the microwave in 30-second bursts, stirring between each. Whisk in sugar, then eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and salt. Stir in flour with a spoon or flexible spatula and scrape batter into prepared pan, spread until even. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out batter-free.

Let cool and cut into desired size. If you’re like me, you will prefer these and all brownies, cold, from the fridge. But I bet you’re normal and will just eat them hot from the pan. If desired, dust the brownies with powdered sugar before serving.

Additional notes:

the darker half of this duo. But, the chocolate intensity is definitely dialed down. However, the sugar level is also adjusted to accommodate for the sweeter chocolate.

ruin our lives, er, make these awesomer and that’s to bake them in mini-muffin pans. This is ideal for brownie edge lovers, as they become nothing but edges with the fudgiest of centers. Spray the pans first with a non-stick spray and fill them

almost to the top. They bake for about 16 minutes before a toothpick comes out batter-free. Let them sit in the pan for 5 minutes on a cooling rack before unmolding them, or they break easily. Mine had a frustrating yield of 29 (i.e. just enough to require more than a pan’s worth) but it made for such