Once people get past the initial “Oooooo brownies!” you generally find that everyone has their own opinion of what makes a great brownie. Cakey vs. chewy, frosted vs. no frosting, nuts or no nuts, cocoa powder vs. chocolate. For me, the perfect brownie is dark, chocolaty, chewy, with a background of a good coffee to bring out the chocolate and to cut the overly sweet. While I love nuts, my perfect brownies have neither nuts nor frosting.

I have been making these brownies for over 25 years and I am sorry to say that I have no idea where I got the original recipe. I hadn’t made them in awhile and I recently tried making them using a rather expensive chocolate. Somewhat to my surprise, they weren’t nearly as good as when I used Unsweetened Bakers Chocolate. So don’t try to improve these – they are absolutely perfect as they are.

Java Brownies

Yield: 9 to 12 servings (these are rich)

Ingredients

4 ounces unsweetened “Bakers” brand Chocolate

2 sticks of unsalted butter

1 cup of granulated sugar

3/4 cup of dark brown sugar or Demerara Sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup of unbleached all-purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

2 Tablespoons instant coffee granules (Any good, dark coffee will work)

pinch of Kosher salt

3 large eggs

Directions

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter (or spray with Pam) an 8-inch square glass pan. (I’ve used metal and it just comes out better with glass.)
2. Melt butter and chocolate on a low heat in a heavy pot. Watch it and just before the chocolate is totally melted, remove from the heat and stir with a spatula to finish the melting process.
3. Add the sugars, vanilla, flour, salt, baking powder and coffee granules and mix well. Then add the eggs and mix until the eggs are fully incorporated.
4. Spread the mixture in the prepared pan and bake for about 48 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool before cutting. Enjoy as is or this makes a truly decadent brownie sundae.