Yesterday we went to the International Specialist Nursery Days at Bingerden. A wonderful event held in the historical gardens of one of the country’s oldest estates where specialist nurseries bring their collections and only your iron will and the fact that you cannot pay by card can protect you from buying plants you know you really don’t have any space for in your garden. Or is it just my problem?
Since it was a workday and the weather was not at all pleasant (cold, rainy,windy), I thought at least it would not be crowded. I thought wrong: when we got there, the parking lot (or rather “parking meadow”) was almost full already. Garden lovers on the hunt for the latest rose variety or a geranium nobody else has, are completely undeterred by weather. Also, they wear wellies. We were not wise enough to do that and had wet feet before we reached the ticket box. Therefore our first stop was the tent serving tea/coffee with scones. The coffee was good but the scones were not something I can get excited about. Why couldn’t they serve say …brownies? Like these brownies, for example.
I have shared other brownie recipes before: there were the Toffee brownies and the Guinness brownies. Both very very good, but slightly complicated. But these are truly easy one-bowl brownies that anyone can make, in no time. They are also extremely chocolatey. I imagine that Robert Steinberg when developing this recipe asked himself: How much chocolate and how little flour can I put in brownies so that they will still hold together? The answer: see bellow.
Very chocolatey brownies
From David Lebovitz: Ready for Dessert, where they go under the name “Robert’s Absolute Best Brownies”
Makes 9 to 12 brownies
85 g (3 ounces) unsalted butter
225 g (8 ounces) bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
150 g (¾ cup) sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 large eggs, at room temperature
35 g (¼ cup) all-purpose flour
135 g (1 cup) walnuts, almonds hazelnuts, or pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius (350 degrees Fahrenheit). Line the inside of a 23 cm (9 inch) square pan with two pieces of parchment, positioning the sheets perpendicular to each other and allowing the excess to extend beyond the edges of the pan. Or use one large sheet of extra wide parchment. Lightly grease the parchment with butter.
In a medium saucepan, melt the butter, then add the chocolate and stir over low heat until the chocolate is melted and smooth. Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar and vanilla until combined. Beat in the eggs one at a time. Add the flour and stir energetically for 1 full minute, until the batter loses its graininess, becomes smooth and glossy, and pulls away a bit from the sides of the saucepan.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake until the center feels almost set, about 30 minutes. Don’t overbake!
Let cool completely in the pan, before lifting out the parchment to remove the brownies.
Storage: these brownies will keep well for up to 4 days (not in our house though) and can be frozen for 1 month.
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