Nick Malgieri
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Nick Malgieri

Supernatural Brownies

A friend asked me to prepare a couple of chocolate desserts for a large party she was having. I decided to make a brownie recipe that I had adapted from a large-quantity commercial recipe. When I broke it down to a home baking quantity, the brownie batter fit perfectly in a 10 x 15-inch jellyroll pan. For my friend’s party, though, I needed to make two half-sheet pans, so I doubled the recipe and increased it further by 50% for the larger pans. The batter was safely in the pans and in the oven for about 10 minutes when I looked back at my notes and realized I had doubled the flour but failed to make the 50% increase. Ugh—too late to take the pans out of the oven. I decided to bake them and nothing short of a miracle occurred: I tasted a bit of the baked batter after it had cooled and it was even better then the original.

Makes one 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan of brownies, about 24 2-inch squares

1/2 pound/2 sticks/227 grams unsalted butter, cut into 12 pieces

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1/2 pound/227 grams dark chocolate (60% is perfect), cut into 1/4-inch pieces

1 cup/200 grams firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup/200 grams granulated sugar

1 cup/135 grams unbleached all-purpose flour (spoon flour into dry-measure cup and level off)

1/4 teaspoon salt

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 cups/about 200 grams pecan or walnut pieces, divided (optional)

 

One 9 x 13 x 2-inch pan buttered and lined with buttered foil or parchment

 

  1. Set a rack in the middle level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

  2. In a medium saucepan melt the butter over medium heat. Let the butter start to sizzle and get very hot. Off heat add the chocolate. Shake the pan to submerge the chocolate and wait a minute. Whisk smooth.

  3. Place the brown sugar, granulated sugar, flour, and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer and mix with the paddle on medium speed until the mixture is very fine and powdery, 2 or 3 minutes.

  4. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating to incorporate between additions, followed by the vanilla.

  5. Remove the bowl from the mixer and thoroughly fold in the butter and chocolate mixture. Fold in three quarters of the nuts, if using.

  6. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Sprinkle with the remaining nuts, if using.

  7. Bake the brownies until they are slightly firm and no longer liquid in the center of the pan, about 40 minutes. Cool in the pan on a rack, then wrap in plastic and wait until the next day to cut them—they are still too soft immediately after cooling. To rush the process, chill the cooled and wrapped brownies for a couple of hours before cutting the brownies into 2-inch squares.