Chewy Chocolate Chip Brownies

I have learned much about making brownies in the past few weeks. I have tried to make brownies from scratch before and found it a waste of time for several reasons. One is the bitter chocolate taste I would get with 'from scratch' brownies. I thought it was because I used too much cocoa, but now I am educated and experienced. It is not the amount of cocoa as much as the type of cocoa. To avoid that bitter or powdery taste, you must use Dutch processed cocoa or cocoa processed with alkalies. The alkalies neutralize the acidity of the cocoa and really change the flavor of whatever is being baked (brownies).

The second thing I learned relates to the texture of brownies. I had thought that there were only two categories of brownies: fudge and cake. I was wrong. There is a third category: chewy. I always thought that the brownie I like and was searching for and only found in a boxed mix was a fudge brownie because it is so moist and dark and sweet. But I tried recipes for fudge brownies and hated them because they tasted and looked like. . . fudge (which I really do not like). After making a few recipes and reading about brownies, I saw a description of a brownie recipe I liked and it was a chewy brownie. You see chewy is soft and fluffy but fudge is dense and sticky.




Chewy Chocolate Chip Brownies
1 c {2 sticks} unsalted butter
2 c granulated white sugar
4 lg eggs, room temperature
2 tbsp vanilla
1 c Dutch cocoa
1 c all purpose flour
1 tsp salt
1 tsp baking powder
1 c chocolate chips

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with aluminum foil. Grease or spray with nonstick coating.

2. Melt butter over low heat. Add sugar and stir heating till almost bubbling. Remove from heat and let cool for a couple of minutes. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, until smooth and shiny. Add vanilla.

3. Combine cocoa, flour, salt, and baking powder. Pour butter mixture into dry ingredients and stir. Do not over mix, just stir to combine. Fold in chocolate chips. Spoon batter into prepared pan. Bake at 350F for 30 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.


Helpful Notes~
*Use Dutch processed cocoa, not American; or use cocoa that has been processed with alkalies.
*Line baking sheet with foil; when brownies are completely cooled just lift out and cut. THIS MAKES IT SO EASY TO CUT BROWNIES, no sticky gunk on your knife.



*To get a shiny crust on top of your brownies, continue to heat butter while whisking in sugar. Allow to get rather warm but not bubbly. Whisk in room temperature eggs one at a time. This should give you a flaky, shiny crust.



*Add chocolate chips to change the flavor to suit your targeted taste palette, semi-sweet or dark or milk chocolate.
*Mix with a spoon or spatula or fork, not with a mixer. Over mixing kills brownies. I used no more than 50 strokes when stirring the dry ingredients in and then just folded in the chips.
*Use white sugar with this recipe. I love brown sugar when baking but it did not work with this.