This is my go-to brownie, extra chocolate-y and turns out every time (though I am no boxed brownie snob!). Rivers of chocolate, chewy with a crispy crust. Does it get better? The complaint I often hear about brownies from scratch is the lack of the crust on top! you just need to beat your step with eggs a bit more to form that meringue layer that rises up.
Makes 8×8″ pan (we cut those into 9 squares)
[ingredients title=” Brownie Ingredients”]
- 1/2 cup butter, melted
- 1 cup white sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1/3 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp espresso powder (or instant coffee powder, finely ground, works too!)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2/3 cup mixed chocolate chips and chocolate chunks (usually a mix of bitter and semisweet)
- Hazelnuts, roughly chopped (optional)
[/ingredients]
[ingredients title=”Caramel Ingredients”]\
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces
- sea salt
[/ingredients]
[directions title=”Directions”]
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour (with cocoa powder) an 8-inch square pan, Alternatively you can line with parchment paper
- Stir in sugar, eggs, and 1 teaspoon vanilla into melted butter. Beat for about 5 minutes
- Beat in cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Stir in 3/4 of chocolate and hazelnuts.
- Spread batter into prepared pan, sprinkle remaining chocolate and hazelnuts over top evenly. Lightly rap pan to let the chocolate chunks and chips settle into batter
- Bake for 25-30 minutes.
- To make caramel, bring sugar and 2 Tbsp water to boil on medium heat, stirring occasionally. At boil, turn heat to medium-high and don’t stir! At about 5-8 minutes it will be a deep amber colour, remove from heat and whisk in milk and butter. It will thicken as it cool. Drizzle over brownie as soon as it is removed from oven.
- Sprinkle sea salt
[/directions]
