Triple chocolate

NaBloPoMo, Day 10.

Here's another recipe that I promised quite a while ago: triple chocolate brownies. Just the name is enough to get your imagination going, isn't it? I don't think that's their original name, but I scribbled them down in my recipe notebook so long ago that I can't be sure. The recipe itself is difficult to read in spots, smudged and smeared as it is with chocolate stains and butter. Luckily I've made it so many times I almost know it by heart.

Triple chocolate brownies
Originally from America's Test Kitchen, I think
People have strong opinions about brownies - cakey vs. fudgey, nuts vs. no nuts, edges vs. middles. So I would never claim "perfect", or "best", or "ultimate" brownies; but these are my favorite brownies, the ones I make again and again and again. I've topped them with ice cream and caramel sauce, underbaked them to approximate molten chocolate cakes, and used them as the base for pumpkin-chocolate tartlets. They have never failed me.

5 oz/150 g semisweet or bittersweet chocolate, chopped

2 oz/60 g unsweetened chocolate, chopped

8 Tbsp/1 stick/4 oz/120 g unsalted butter

3 Tbsp cocoa powder

3 large eggs

1 ¼ cup/9 oz/270 g sugar

2 tsp/10 ml vanilla extract

½ tsp/2 g salt

1 cup/4 oz/120 g all-purpose flour

1. Position oven rack in lower middle of oven and preheat to 350F/180C. Grease an 8-inch/20-cm square baking pan and line with foil; grease foil.
2. Melt chocolates and butter in a double boiler. Whisk in cocoa and set aside to cool slightly.
3. Whisk together eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt in medium bowl until combined, about 15 seconds. Whisk in chocolate mixture, then stir in flour.
4. Spread in pan and bake until slightly puffed and toothpick comes out with sticky crumbs, 35-40 minutes.
5. Cool on wire rack to room temperature, about 2 hours. Remove from pan, cut into 1-inch/2-cm squares, and serve.