Dark Chocolate Brownies

Recently, we had a coworker leave our office to move on to bigger and better things. Happy for him, sad for us. Naturally, this meant he needed some sort of sending off treat. Knowing that he wasn't a fan of overly sweet things I asked him what he liked best. His response--rich, fudgey brownies. And so I turned to Joy the Baker for her Dark Chocolate Brownies.

Makes: One 9" X 13" baking pan

Ingredients
8 ounces unsweetened chocolate
12 Tbsp butter
1 1/3 cup flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp vanilla

Directions
MOVE rack to upper 1/3 of oven
PREHEAT oven to 350F
BUTTER 9" x 13" pan
LINE buttered pan with foil
BUTTER the foil

COARSELY chop chocolate and place in a medium microwave safe bowl
CUT butter into tsp sized slices
ADD butter to chocolate

WHISK together eggs, sugar, and vanilla in a separate bowl until pale and thick

MICROWAVE chocolate and butter mixture for 20 seconds
STIR
MICROWAVE for 5 seconds
STIR
CONTINUE to alternate 5 second bursts in the microwave with stirring until the chocolate and butter are smooth and fully incorporated

ADD chocolate mixture to the egg mixture
WHISK to incorporate
ADD flour, baking powder and salt
WHISK to incorporate

POUR into foiled and buttered pan
BAKE for 30 minutes or until cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean

My Thoughts
1. These were exactly the rich, fudgey, decadent treat I was looking for.

2. Because we want a dark chocolate taste, make sure to pick up unsweetened chocolate. The sugar you add takes it from unsweet to dark chocolate.

3. These had a bit of a tendency to fall apart if cut into too-large slices and ran a touch to the gooey side. In the future, I'll bake them 1-2 minutes past when the skewer comes out clean to help them hold together better.