thick, fudgy, one bowl brownies

Ughh. Enough already with the Test Kitchen, the Cooks Illustrated, the Country Cooks. They always get it right, always. I don’t see how you can be that reliable all the time. So what if they gave you perfect recipes for soft pillow-y gnocchi, or warm pita pockets filled with gryo fixings, or too-big-for-your-bun-delicious burgers, or give you the secret to re-nigging all previous statements of hatred toward chicken cutlets, or the Kill Bill approach we take when eating their hummus, or the creamy coleslaw that is deceptively not creamy, or the the takes-so-long-you-wonder-why-your-doing-this-and-then-you-taste-it-southern pulled pork. With this many success stories I really can’t do much complaining. Not even if they take out all the romance of cooking, because frankly I love reliable. Which is what they are. They give the straight, simple basics of how and why recipes work and I know I will always get what they promised. So forgive me if I seem particularly partial towards their recipes of late, but I’m just not in the mood for fickle, picky recipes that won’t give me brownies when I need brownies. I mean, I need brownies.

It’s that time — sorry men, you won’t know what I’m talking about — when my body is signaling uncontrollably for butter and sugar and, and chocolate. Yes! Me wanting chocolate, it must be that time, ya know that time every twenty-eight days brings. The time you loathe, yet you know your chocolate meter is going off the chart meaning eating chocolate will feel good, yet you feel bad about your favorite skirt that might not fit as perfectly as it has when you haven’t gorged out on chocolate, yet, you get to eat chocolate. I mean seriously, you’ve got to weigh the pros and cons here.

But there is another reason you have to make these brownies. Not the monthly reason or the satisfying of a chocolate obsession reason, or the I just want a reliable, fudgy, thick brownie reason, but the one-bowl brownie reason. That’s right. One bowl. Because that chocolate meter also comes with a dish washing meter that sinks down to zero, well actually, I think it’s permanently stuck on as-few-as-I-can-get-away-with, so the streamlined approach to one bowl makes this so much more loved by me and my chocolate meter.

These brownies are super chocolate-y and intense, and should be served with a tall glass of milk. Cooks Illustrated used three different types of chocolate — semi-sweet, unsweetened and cocoa powder — to achieve their rich, deep, intense chocolate flavor and melted their butter instead of creaming to produce a fudge-like texture. The only changes I made were in condensing the steps to be a one bowl and one spatula clean-up.

Thick, Fudgy, One Bowl Brownies
Adapted from The Complete America’s Test Kitchen TV Show Cookbook

Makes about 64 small brownies

5 ounces semi-sweet chocolate, chopped (about 1 cup)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into quarters
3 tablespoons cocoa powder, sifted*
3 large eggs
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 cup (5 ounces) all-purpose flour

Adjust an oven rack to the lower-middle position and heat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan** with two pieces of foil and spray with vegetable oil spray.

Melt the semi-sweet and unsweetened chocolate and butter in a large heatproof bowl set over a sauce plan of barely simmering water, stirring occasionally with a spatula (or wooden spoon) until smooth. Remove bowl from heat and stir in the cocoa powder until smooth. Set aside to cool.

Once mixture has cooled, stir in the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until combined. Add flour, stirring until just combined. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan; spread the batter into the corners and smooth the surface using your spatula. Bake until slightly puffed and a toothpick or wooden skewer inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs attached, 35 – 40 minutes. Cool the brownies on a wire rack to room temperature (I did not wait this long, I waited for about, 5 minutes – I needed chocolate). Looses the edges with a pairing knife and lift the brownies from the pan using the foil extensions. Cut the brownies into 1-inch squares and serve.

Keeping: the brownies can be wrapped in plastic wrap and refrigerated up to 5 days.

*Dutch-processed or natural both work well.

**I had a 9-inch square pan and adjusted the cook time to about 30 minutes.