Supernatural Brownies

Awhile back, I came across a blog that was conducting a sort of brownie experiment. She was testing out the brownie recipes featured in a New York Times article. One of the brownies peaked my interest. It was the Supernatural Brownie. Mostly because it was one of the many recipes, I had added to my “to-bake” list. I looked for the recipe and taped it to the fridge. And not to soon forgot about it.

Recently my friend Katie posted a recipe for gluten free mint brownies. They looked so dark and fudgy that I had to have a brownie immediately. Off to the kitchen I went in search of all the necessary ingredients. As I turned to preheat the oven, I noticed the recipe for the supernatural brownies, uh-oh. Guilt. I re-read the recipe and the article. Humph, what to do now? Well, I’m that not good with guilt, so I knew I was going to be baking Supernatural Brownies.

Not wanting to have sub par brownies, I took the author’s advice and used the best ingredients for my brownies. I agree with the author that brownies are best when they are simple (with or without nuts). I have always felt that the key to great brownies is good butter and great chocolate. I like to consider brownies “… a death by chocolate” sort of dessert.

For my “death by chocolate”, I used imported European butter and Callebaut chocolate. (Just as the author suggests.) Yes, it’s a little pricey for brownies but worth every penny. I wouldn’t serve these brownies to children or to people who aren’t chocolate lovers. They are just not going to be able to appreciate the subtleties of the chocolate and butter. If you know, any die-hard chocolate lovers then this would be an excellent way to show them you care on Valentine’s Day. One batch would easily yield you two lovely gift-wrapped boxes. So go ahead splurge on the chocolate & butter and your loved will thank you.

Supernatural Brownies
Adapted from “Chocolate: from Simple Cookies to Extravagant Showstoppers”
By Nick Malgieri

1 cup of butter
8 ounces of chocolate
4 large eggs
½ teaspoon of salt
1 cup muscovado sugar
1 cup granulated sugar
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1 cup of flour
½ cup of chopped nuts or ¾ cup of whole nuts, optional.

1. Butter a 13x9 pan and line with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 350F degrees. Melt the chocolate and butter in a double boiler and set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl whisk (I used a large whisk and whisked everything by hand.) together the eggs. Whisk in the salt, sugars and vanilla.

2. Whisk in the chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the flour until just combined. If you’re adding, nuts now would be the time to fold them in. pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake 35-40* minutes. Cool in pan on a rack.


*Okay, I like fudgy-dark-make-your-knees-buckle-brownies. Brownies so chocolate-y you have to sit down to eat them. At 35 minutes if the center of my brownies does not jiggle, I take them out and let them cool in the pan overnight. The next day with a hot knife, I trim the edges off and cut them into squares.

That’s my secrete to great fudgy brownies. An over baked dry brownie is crime, in my opinion. These brownies are fantastic, but the key is not to over bake them. They are everything that Nick Malgieri claims. They are indeed …supernatural brownies