Dark Chocolate Chip Brownies

Have you ever woken up and decided that you wanted to find a way to make the perfect brownies? Or were invited to a friend's home and wanted to bring a homemade dessert that would surprise everyone? Well, I think brownies are a very versatile dessert and a good brownie recipe can go a long way.

The recipe that I'm going to provide uses an 8"x8" pan.  I find that it 's best to use a square pan or a shallow 9"x7", if available.  The brownies turn out thick and fudgy and you won't be able to keep any for yourself because they'll be gone as soon as they're served.

Ingredients:

1 cup all purpose flour *unbleached

2 cups of sugar

4 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate 

1 stick of butter or margarine

4 eggs

1/4 tsp of salt

2 tsp vanilla 

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees.  Take the baking pan and place wax paper in the bottom and sides of the pan and grease the wax paper with butter.

In a microwavable bowl, melt the unsweetened baking chocolate along with the butter or margarine.  You may want to reduce the power on the microwave to about 50 and microwave in increments of 45 seconds, stirring occasionally, until everything is melted through.  

Add in to the same bowl, sugar, unbeaten eggs, salt, flour and vanilla. Stir the mixture until the dry ingredients are well combined.  Then, add your favorite dark chocolate bar, broken into pieces.  I used a trader joe's 70% dark chocolate bar (the one in the green wrapper) and it turned out great, but really any dark chocolate will be tasty.  Gently fold in the dark chocolate bar pieces into the mixture.

Place the mixture into the lined baking pan and spread evenly. Bake for about 15-18 minutes, depending upon your oven. You'll want to check it after 15 minutes to make sure that the top has become firm and there is no movement in the batter.  I like to even slightly under-bake mine, because it keeps that fudgey consistency.  Once baked through, remove the pan and let it cool upside down on a plate.  Once the pan has cooled down slightly, remove the wax paper so that it's easier than after the brownies are completely cooled. Cut into squares. An 8"x8" pan makes about 12-16 pieces, depending upon the sizes.  Enjoy and let me know if you have any variations to the recipe!