Triple Chocolate Brownies

If you love a good brownie, these Triple Chocolate Brownies are one to add to your collection. The recipe is a classic and already so darn good that the only thing to do is choose your favorite brownie mix-ins. Adapted from Hershey's.

Some people are cookie people. Like my dad, for example. We could be in any small town shopping and my dad can usually find a bakery where, before you know it, a cookie (typically with raisins) will be in hand. Consider me an equal opportunity baker. While I like a good cookie—like these raspberry almond shortbread ones and these lemon drops or these coconut macaroons, it's these Triple Chocolate Brownies that always satisfy the most intense chocolate craving.

I'm a brownie person through and through — well, except at Christmas when literally everyone becomes a cookie person.

Who invented the brownie?

There's isn't a definitive source as to who invented the brownie. There are several women's cookbooks back in the late 19th-century that contain brownie-type recipes. A more definitive reference points to the Palmer House Hotel here in Chicago (who also credits the Sears Roebuck Catalog also in Chicago) where Mrs. Bertha Palmer requested that a small bite dessert be created for her guests coming to Chitown for the Columbian Exposition of the 1893 World's Fair. This brownie is still served at the hotel today and is a sweet confection built around dark chocolate, eggs, flour and sugar and a walnut topping glazed with apricot preserves.

Aren't brownies the best thing ever? So many great recipes for them a girl just can't get bored.

From the box or from scratch?

Really the question here is:

how much more work is it to make a homemade brownie vs. a boxed mix brownie?

A 5 minute extra time investment nets you a brownie whose ingredients you have in your pantry and can pronounce.

Oh yeah...and will always taste better than a box mix.

Why these brownies take the cake

• It's a perfect one bowl / one pan dessert  - talk about easy brownie recipe! And that means fewer dishes which means more time for episodes of Gilmore Girls.
• There are three kinds of chocolate (cocoa powder and two kinds of chocolate chips).
• It's versatile - you can add, top and adjust the recipe for whatever pan or ingredients you have on hand.
• It's sweet but not too sweet - sure, this isn’t a low sugar brownie recipe but it makes a big pan and you can cut ‘em small!
• The texture is fudgy (but not too) with a moist crumb thanks to the small amount of flour.

And...you can eat them with ice cream...just like cake. As if you needed my permission.

Make the best fudgy brownie

When it comes to brownies, texture is everything, right? Here are a few little brownie rules for the perfect fudgy brownie:

• Use the best quality ingredients - use only butter (no margarine!) and the best chocolate/cocoa powder (see below) that your budget and pantry offers.
• Don’t overbake - even two extra minutes one way or the other can make the difference between a good brownie and a great brownie. The trick? Once you the house starts smelling like fresh baked brownies, start keeping an eye and checking with a cake tester. You don't want a tester with loads of goo and batter stuck to it. You want a cake tester that is just clean.
• Cool completely before cutting to get a well-defined bar.

Homemade brownie add-ins

Some classics are:

• Chocolate chips - 
  • Semi-sweet
    • Fun fact: the Trader Joe’s semi-sweet chocolate chips are dairy-free 
  • White chocolate
  • Dark chocolate
• Toffee chips
• Nuts - walnuts, toasted pecans, hazelnuts
• Peanut butter cups or pieces of candy bars pressed into the top of the brownies during the last five minutes of baking
• Espresso powder - 2 tsp added to the butter/sugar combo helps brings out the best in the chocolate flavor

How-to’s

Alright...let’s make some triple chocolate brownies…

• In one bowl, melt the butter [1] and add the sugar, eggs and vanilla [2].
• Oh and the cocoa powder [3]. You’re going to whip all that up until it’s nice and creamy [4].
• Meanwhile, the rest of the dry ingredients are going to be blended together and you’ll add them to the egg and butter mixture [below].

• Add in all the mix-ins. You can do that by hand with a spatula or on the low setting of your mixer.
• Pour the brownie batter into your prepared 9x13 pan and it’s ready for baking.

After baking, let the brownies cool completely (the struggle between risking a burned tongue and wanting some gooey brownies is real...do your best, my friend!)

Storing, make ahead and freezing

• Storing - these keep for about 3 days to enjoy them at their best
• Make ahead - can be made 1-2 days ahead before serving. Let cool completely before covering with plastic wrap. Can refrigerate as well.
• Freezing - After cooling, cut into nice size squares and place in freezer safe container lined with parchment paper. Freeze for up to 2 months.

Tips

FOR A CREW:

Bake in mini muffin pans but watch carefully. Or make a double batch in a jelly roll 11x15 pan and cut small.

FOR A FEW:

Make a batch and freeze them. Beware - they taste pretty good frozen too!