Hmmmm: Best brownies

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch chunks
• 1¼ cups pure cane sugar
• ¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder
• ½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
• ¼ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso powder or espresso coffee (optional)
• 1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 cold large eggs
• ⅔ cup white whole wheat flour (or flour of choice)
• 2 ounces dark or semi-sweet chocolate, roughly chopped (or ⅓ cup chocolate chips)

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with two criss-crossed pieces of parchment paper, making sure that the paper is long enough to go up the sides a couple of inches. Grease the parchment paper.
2. Brown the butter: Melt the butter in a medium-sized saucepan over medium heat. Continue to cook the butter, while whisking constantly, until it’s a pale golden brown and the particles suspended in it are reddish brown.
3. Remove the pan from heat and stir in the sugar, cocoa powder, sea salt, baking powder, espresso powder and vanilla extract. Let the mixture cool for 5 minutes.
4. Add the eggs one at a time, beating vigorously with a wooden spoon or silicone spatula after each one. When the mixture looks thick, shiny and well blended, add all of the flour and stir until you no longer see streaks of flour. Then beat vigorously (put those arm muscles to work!) for 50 strokes with the wooden spoon or spatula.
5. At this point, the mixture should be no more than slightly warm (if not, let it cool for a few more minutes). Fold in the chocolate chunks or chips.
6. Spread the batter in the lined pan, swirling the surface if you’d like. Bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean. Cool the brownies in the pan on a baking rack.
7. Once the brownies are completely cool, lift the edges of the parchment paper and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Use a sharp chef’s knife to cut the brownies into 16 or 25 squares.