When I was in my late teens, I worked for a restaurant that served the most delicious brownies topped with ice cream and fudge sauce. Why wait to go out for dinner? These brownies are the perfect foil for you to play around with and top with whatever ice cream and topping you wish. My favorite is coffee ice cream and hot fudge sauce.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
4 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
1/2 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup toasted hazelnuts, pecans, almonds, or walnuts chopped
Pre-heat oven to 350 F. First, you will need to get a 9x9 inch square pan and line it with foil, then butter the foil. Make sure to use enough foil so that you have some overhang, which makes things far easier when you need to lift the brownies right out of the pan. In a medium sized saucepan over low heat, melt the butter and chocolate together, stirring constantly, until smooth. Set aside to cool slightly. Stir in the sugar until well mixed and then whisk in the eggs, one at a time. Add the vanilla. Stir in the flour and salt, continuing to whisk well. It's recommended in the original recipe that you "beat the batter vigorously for 30 seconds, until it begins to form a smooth ball". I didn't actually do this, to be honest, but I did give it a good whisk. Fold in your chocolate chips and nuts, if using. Scrape into your prepared pan and smooth the top before setting it in the oven. Bake for about 30 minutes, or until the center is just set. Remove them from the oven and let cool before lifting from the pan, peeling off the foil, and slicing up. These brownies will last about 3 days on your counter, wrapped well in cling film or if you leave them in the pan and wrap it with foil. They are also excellent crumbled into ice cream.
Makes 12
Adapted from The Perfect Scoop, by David Lebovitz
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