It happened one afternoon. Not in a moment of hunger. Not in a moment of hormonal upheaval. It just arrived. A deep, dark craving for a super fudgy brownie. My apathy to chocolate was appalled and held on strong for about three days before I gave in and let the itch win. But, I wasn’t going to give in for some hockey puck baked who knows when from a coffee shop. And I wasn’t going to take the easy route and hit up Betty Crocker. I would respect the craving and fulfill it as best I could by searching for the ultimate recipe.
I wanted something fudgy, so all recipes that had anything to do with being light, airy and cake-like were gone. I wanted to bite down on thick, rich softness, the kind that gets stuck in between your teeth and coats your tongue. David Lebovitz by way of David Leite would end up being my baker inspiration of choice, who in turn took his inspiration from Robert Steinberg. My attention was caught when David L. mentioned how crucial the one-minute mixing is to the recipe. Counting out loud as I beat my batter with a wooden spoon, it really was quite amazing how the batter indeed changes over those 60 seconds, resulting in something that would bake into the most perfect fudge brownie. I came across a number of recipes where flaky sea salt was involved at the end, so as I can’t seem to bake anything without a crowning of salt, my brownies would also be adorned.
One salted brownie, completely cooled, alleviated the itch. A few made it to the hands of friends, some more were frozen and later used as a dessert topped with vanilla ice cream and the rest were cut down to the one-bite size, frozen and then eaten straight out of the freezer as an after-work snack. One of the things I love about the generous use of butter and sugar is that it only needs moments on the counter to get fudgy enough again to be able to fill those spaces in your teeth and melt in your mouth.
Robert’s Absolute Best (Fudge) Brownies
Adapted from David Lebovitz
6 tablespoons unsalted or salted butter, cut into pieces, plus more for the pan
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3/4 cup sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
Optional: 1 cup walnuts, almonds, hazelnuts, or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped; 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line the inside of a 9-inch square pan with 2 lengths of foil, positioning the sheets perpendicular to each other and allowing the excess to extend beyond the edges of the pan, or with a single large sheet of extra wide foil or parchment paper. Lightly butter the foil or parchment.
In a medium saucepan over low heat, melt the butter. Add the chocolate and stir until it is melted and smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla until combined. Beat in the eggs, one at a time. Add the flour and stir energetically for one full minute — time yourself — until the batter loses its graininess, becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away a bit from the sides of the saucepan. Stir in the chopped nuts if using.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle salt over top if using. Bake until the centre feels almost set, about 30 minutes. There should still be a few crumbs stuck to a toothpick when inserted. Do not overbake.
Let the brownies cool completely in the pan before lifting the foil or parchment and the block of brownie out of the pan. Cut the brownie into squares. (The brownies will keep well for up to four days and can be frozen for one month.)
