The Brownies They Serve In Heaven

I don't know what else to say about this month's Barefoot Blogger recipe except that these brownies are so very very good, that someone should write a poem about them. Someone should declare a national holiday. A marching band should announce their arrival. A crowd of groupies should form outside my kitchen, just hoping for a sniff. And said brownies should be packaged up and sent to anyone feeling a bit morose as evidence that life can be infinitely improved with a small slab of gooey brownies. Yes, they are that good.

Having just returned home mid-renovation, and still swamped by dust and chaos, I shopped for this recipe without really contemplating how much brownie I was about to make. Yes, I can be vague but 1 1/4 cups of flour sounds quite reasonable for a normal sized tin, but gosh, nearly a kilo of chocolate, 1/2 a kilo of sugar, and so on did seem a little extreme. It was only when I pulled out the tape measure to see which tin I should use, I realised that the only tin of the required dimension that I had was the bottom half of the griller rack for my oven. So I did the only thing possible - lined it completely with baking paper and created a brownie that had the same sized footprint as my oven. Oh my. Which then created a minor disaster when the tin was way too big to get in the fridge, and I was trying to shuffle the world's biggest brownie into pieces and onto smaller trays....Luckily, it was so good, that I have had no trouble palming brownies off onto everyone I have seen this week, plus I have two tupperwares of them in the freezer. Unless you want a similarly huge pan of brownies, feel free to chop this recipe in half. Only in Ina's world, does this recipe make 20 brownies. And don't skip the coffee - you don't taste it but somehow it makes the chocolate more intense.

Thanks to Eva of I'm Boring for her fantastic choice. And if you feel like making some really amazing food courtesy of the Barefoot Contessa Ina Garten a couple of times a month, join us at the Barefoot Bloggers.

Outrageous Brownies
from "The Barefoot Contessa" By Ina Garten

500g unsalted butter
500g plus 350g semisweet chocolate chips, divided
180g unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder
1 1/2 tablespoons real vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, divided (1 cup for batter and 1/4 cup in the chips and nuts)
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups diced walnut pieces (I used a mixture of walnuts and pecans because that is what I had)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 13 by 18 by 5cm sheet pan.
Melt together the butter, 500g chocolate chips, and unsweetened chocolate on top of a double boiler. Cool slightly. Stir together the eggs, instant coffee, vanilla and sugar. Stir in the warm chocolate mixture and cool to room temperature.

Stir together 1 cup of the flour, baking powder and salt. Add to cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips with 1/4 cup flour to coat. Then add to the chocolate batter. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake for about 30 minutes, or until tester just comes out clean. Halfway through the baking, rap the pan against the oven shelf to allow air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. (I didn't do this as I had completely lined the baking tin with baking paper). Do not over-bake! Cool thoroughly, refrigerate well and cut into squares.