Decadent Chocolate Brownies

As everyone and their mothers know, Saturday is Valentines Day. Which obviously means I have a sacred duty, ok let’s be honest, a great excuse to make this week all about chocolate. Valentines is all about the chocolate am I right? 

I know some people hate Valentines Day (I’m sure this isn’t counting the chocolate. How could you possibly hate on the chocolate part of things?). I know some people love Valentines Day. I happen to have fairly positive feelings about Valentines Day though most of high school I never had a Valentine.

I was kind of a mid-level dork in high school. I had my friends. Nobody hated me (as far as I know), everyone was relatively nice to me, but neither was I the “hot” girl everyone wanted to ask out. Except when I went to music or film festivals and other artsy like events. Then I couldn’t keep em’ away with a fly swatter. Apparently I was totally a “hot” girl to guys at least 10 years out of high school who were into indie type music/film and/or modern art. Unfortunately, I was much to shy for anything like that to ever turn into anything. Though I’m sure my parents we’re totally cool with that state of affairs. I’m just not seeing my Dad digging his teenage daughter dating a indie musician/film director/artist who had 10+ years on her.  

Anyhow back at school, on Valentines Day the “hot” girls would be gifted with chocolates, teddy bears, balloons, flowers and whatever, from their adoring public. Sadly to say no flowers for me. Wan wan.

I always kind of wished I would end up having a secret admirer who would turn up with a bunch of roses some Valentines Day. Never happened. But honestly, I never did get too bent out of shape about the whole thing despite my lack of flowers and boyfriends. 

Fast forward a few years to the end of senior year and then college, where it turned out I had no trouble finding a very nice boyfriend. (He was definitely the type to treat a girl well on Valentines.) Not getting bent out of shape was was probably smart, I spared my self years of anguish that would have eventually been for nothing, as I was apparently perfectly attractive and lovable. As further evidence to this fact I also met my husband in college. Also the type of guy who knows how to pull off a romantic V-Day. So all and all not the worst experience ever in the romance department, meaning Valentines Day is ok by me.

So let’s circle back to the important part of V-Day. The chocolate. Today the chocolate comes in the form of ultra decadent brownies. Apparently there is a great brownie debate raging out there on the internet that I was unaware of until I started googling for dairy free brownies. Apparently there’s camp cake-y and camp fudge-y. I apparently fall into both camps because I haven’t met a brownie I didn’t like. Ok I amend that. There are some gross grocery store/cafeteria brownies out there. But mostly, h-ello, chock full of chocolate, what not to like? Any who, there brownies are a bit like me in that they fit a bit into both camps. They have more flour then some brownies, which makes them a little more cake-y; but they also have a ton of chocolate which lends itself to team fudge-y. Since I care most about the chocolate factor, these have both coco and melted semi-sweet chocolate. Let me tell you this is the way to go. These are off the charts in the deep rich chocolate department. 

Serve em’ with a scoop of vanilla bean ice cream and you’ll make your sweetheart, your kids, or anyone who has taste buds, very very happy this Valentines Day.

Decadent Chocolate Brownies– Yields a 8×8 inch pan.

• 1 cup all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup unsweetened coco powder
• 1 cup of sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 6 tablespoons salted butter, melted
• 1 teaspoon of vanilla
• 3 eggs
• 6 oz semi- sweet chocolate chips, melted 

1. Preheat the oven to 350* line an 8x8inch pan with foil. Spray with oil. 

2. In the bowl of a large stand mixer (Feel free to use a hand mixer, or even a bowl and spoon, just mix well!) add all dry ingredients: flour, coco powder, sugar, baking powder, and kosher salt. Run the mixer on low to combine all ingredients evenly.

3. Add the wet ingredients: melted butter, vanilla, eggs, and melted chocolate chips. (Melt in a double boiler or microwave. You want the chocolate fully melted but not hot when adding to the batter.) Mix on low until well combined. Scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula as needed. The batter will be very thick when ready.

4. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Use a rubber spatula to get all the batter out of the bowl. Use the spatula to spread the batter evenly in the pan. Bake at 350* for 20-25 minutes, a fork will come out clean. Allow the brownies to cool fully in the pan before cutting.