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Cook's Illustrated Classic Brownies

Ingredients

  • 1 cup 4 oz pecans or walnuts chopped
  • 1 ¼ cup cake flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¾ teaspoon baking powder
  • 5 oz unsweetened chocolate chopped *(their recipe calls for 6 oz)
  • 12 Tablespoons butter
  • 2 ¼ cups sugar
  • 4 large eggs
  • 1 Tablespoon vanilla

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 325. Line the inside of a 9x13 pan with foil. Push in to corners and up sides of pan, fold any excess over the outside of pan. Spray with Pam.
  2. If using nuts, spread on baking sheet and bake 5-8 minutes.
  3. Whisk to combine flour, salt and baking powder in bowl.
  4. Melt chocolate and butter in large heatproof bowl, or in double boiler. I use my gas range on the lowest setting. Remove from heat when butter and chocolate are melted. Gradually whisk in sugar. Let cool a bit. Add eggs, one at a time. Whisk in vanilla. Add flour mixture in three additions. Fold in. Make sure not to over mix.
  5. Transfer mixture into prepared pan. Sprinkle nuts on top. Bake until toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. 25-35 minutes. When cooled, lift brownies out of pan by foil. Flatten out overhang foil and cut.

Recipe Notes

-Cooks magazine did a whole write up on making the perfect brownie in March/ April 2004. They analyzed everything that goes in to making the perfect brownie-from the type of flour (cake flour yields a softer texture), to the baking of the nuts, and placing them on top, instead of inside the batter, to ensure the nuts were still crunchy, and not soggy. This is one of my all time favorite brownie recipes.