Flourless Extra-Fudgy Brownies

For my sister's birthday a couple weeks ago I got her a cookbook called Flourless: Recipes for Naturally Gluten-free Desserts. This afternoon I made the first recipe from it, and so far I am very impressed - the Double Chocolate Brownies are probably my favorite brownies I've ever had, much less baked myself. For me, a perfect brownie = crisp on the outside + moist on the inside + lots of chocolate flavor. These ones fit the bill.

Double Chocolate Brownies
From Flourless: Recipes for Naturally Gluten-free Desserts by Nicole Spiridakis

5 oz semisweet chocolate
1/2 cup butter
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
3 eggs, lightly beaten
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350 and prep an 8x8 baking dish by lining with foil or parchment paper.

Melt the butter and chocolate together. You can do this the fancy way, as recommended in the cookbook, which is to set a heatproof bowl over simmering water and melt until smooth. I've done it that way but I usually either carefully melt it in a small saucepan on the stove or very carefully in the microwave, stirring every 15 seconds until smooth. I'm sure there's a very good reason for doing it the fancy way, but I've never noticed a difference. Just don't burn the chocolate!

Remove the butter and chocolate mixture and pour it into a big bowl. Combine with the egg, cocoa powder, sugar, salt and vanilla. Stir it well and then spread it into the baking dish, smoothing the top with a spatula. Bake for about 40 minutes or until "dry on the top and almost firm to the touch". I accidentally baked mine for 45 minutes and they were perfect - and I'm normally pro-under-baking when it comes to brownies.

Cool for a few minutes and then carefully lift onto a cutting board. The cookbook recommends letting it set in the fridge for up to an hour - I didn't read that correctly and I let it set at room temp for an hour, which worked for me and meant the brownies were still a little warm when I ate the first one. Cut into 16 squares and serve. (The picture in the cookbook shows them with a light dusting of cocoa powder, which is very pretty.)