Brownies a la Orangette

I took a personality-career matching test the other day to try and figure out what I should do with my life. After a series of about 75 questions, the results came back: "You are a Persuader". AHA! A Persuader! Of course! Of all the things I have always known about myself, the most obvious is my ability to persuade people to see my view of things as absolute truth. A very useful skill, yes, when used on other people; however it is often quite detrimental when used on myself. I can gracefully justify any decision to any direction and this often gets me into a fair bit of trouble.

Yesterday proved no different as I found myself persuading myself to turn to the dark side. Of chocolate, that is. With several chunks of best-quality chocolate complaining of neglect in my cupboard, making brownies became the obvious best-use of my day off. Forgetting about the cleaning, decorating, or getting that tan that I so desperately need, I threw myself into research mode to find the perfect brownie recipe. After only a few minutes I found it, a recipe for more fudge- than cake-like brownies posted by Orangette.

Seeing as Matt was not given the day off and would be returning home from an extremely long day only to turn around quickly and head off to the studio to record more of Black Molly's upcoming album, I had to get the brownies done. STAT.

The results of this persuasion were outstanding. I changed Orangette's recipe only slightly, as I had only dark chocolate and semi-sweet chocolate on hand, so I used less sugar to compensate. These were incredibly rich and oozing of fudgy deliciousness.

Perhaps I will become a persuasive baker.

Adapted Ever-So-Slightly From Orangette: The Archetypal Brownie
or, as the book calls them, Best-Ever Brownies
Adapted slightly from Baking with Julia; contributing baker: Rick Katz

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp salt
2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter
4 ounces best-quality semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
2 ounces best-quality dark chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
4 large eggs

Center a rack in the oven, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt; set aside.

Melt the butter and the chocolate together in a heat-proof bowl set over a saucepan of simmering water--make sure the bowl does not actually touch the water-- stirring frequently. When the chocolate and butter are both melted and smooth, add a 1/2 cup of the sugar to the mixture, and stir it for 30 seconds; then remove the mixture from the heat, and stir in the vanilla extract. Pour the mixture into a large bowl.

Put the remaining 1 cup sugar and the eggs into a medium bowl, and whisk by hand to combine. Little by little, pour half of the sugar and eggs into the chocolate mixture, stirring gently but constantly with a rubber spatula so that the eggs don’t scramble from the heat.

Beat the remaining sugar and eggs on medium speed until they are thick, pale, and doubled in volume, about 3 minutes. Using the rubber spatula, gently fold the whipped eggs and sugar into the chocolate mixture. When the eggs are almost completely incorporated, gently fold in the dry ingredients.

Pour and scrape the batter into an unbuttered 8-inch square pan (I’ve found a heavy nonstick metal brownie pan to be ideal, although the original recipe recommends ceramic or glass). Bake the brownies for 25-28 minutes, during which time they will rise a bit and the top will turn dry and a bit crackly. After 23 minutes, stick a knife or toothpick into the center to see how they are progressing. They should be just barely set—not too raw, but still fairly gooey (mine took 30 minutes and were still a bit undercooked). Cool the brownies in the pan on a rack. When they’re completely cool, cut them into rectangular bars to serve.

These brownies will keep, at room temperature or refrigerated, for 2-3 days. I like to reheat them and serve topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or alongside a shot glass of milk (I find this the perfect ratio of amount of milk to brownie).