Proper Brownies

Top with vanilla ice cream and hot fudge, or savor alone with milk…

Really good brownies aren’t hard to make, so skip the Betty Crocker boxes and start from scratch. You want to get a broad pan or wok of water nearly boiling, and into this place a bowl of your chocolate and butter, stirring them as they melt into a gorgeous, silky, chocolate stream, like the one flowing through Willy Wonka’s factory. Nothing this gorgeous can come from a box.

Once melted, allow the chocolate to cool for 10 minutes. You don’t want the heat to cook your eggs. When cool, mix in the sugar, vanilla, and eggs (1 at a time) and beat the mixture well.

Separately, mix your flour and salt. Then add dry ingredients to wet, mixing the whole time. Grease a glass baking pan with butter, pour your batter, and bake at 350°F for about 25-30 minutes, or until a knife comes out dry. Let your brownies cool for ten minutes, if you can…

Ingredients

  • 6 oz chocolate (bitter, milk chocolate, whatever you like)
  • 3/4 stick butter (room temp)
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 2 eggs (room temp)
  • 1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt

Classic Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

The Real Deal:

  • 1 stick butter, room temperature
  • 1 cup sugar (half white, half brown)
  • 1 egg, room temperature
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Leave your egg and butter out overnight to warm. Mix the sugar and butter until creamy, add the egg and vanilla and mix well.

Separately, combine:

  • 1-1/2 cup flour
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt

Then mix the dry into the wet ingredients, and stir in:

  • 6-7 ounces chocolate chips (Ghirardelli or other premium chocolate preferred, semi-sweet or milk)

Grease a sheet and bake these bad boys at 375°F for 10-12 minutes. Cool them on a rack, then grab some milk…

(Store airtight. After a few days, use a microwave for 20 seconds to get that fresh-baked gooeyness again.)