Time for more brownies! Our second Barefoot Bloggers pick for May is Outrageous Brownies, picked by Eva of I’m Boring, thank you, Eva! I think this is my new favorite brownie recipe :)
Barefoot Contessa Outrageous Brownies
1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips, divided
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee powder
2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon kosher salt
3 cups diced walnut pieces
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 1 1/2-inch sheet pan.
Melt together the butter, 1 pound chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.
Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.
Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.
Notes: I halved this recipe and baked it in a 9 by 13 pan. I did not make any substitutions or changes except to leave out the walnuts. For my instant coffee powder I used General Foods International French Vanilla Nut, which added a great depth of flavor. I absolutely loved these, first, they were really easy, no hard to find ingredients required, perfect balance of semisweet and unsweetened chocolate, and no guessing with the baking, I set the timer for 30 minutes, pulled them out, and they were perfectly done.
These were a more delicate fudgey brownie than sturdy and chewy, so if those are your favorites you might not enjoy these as much. I love that these can be personalized with any kind of add-in in place of the walnuts, next time I make them I am going to swirl some caramel in the batter -- yum! Even though our household is on brownie overload from the TWD Chipster Topped Brownies from Tuesday, I am so glad I went ahead and made these "Outrageous" brownies too, they are amazing :)
