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
- 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.)
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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