Double Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Double Chocolate Fudge Brownies. Hands off — these are all mine!

Break-ups. Bad hair days. Work problems. Brownies are the warm, chewy, brown friend you turn to when you start feeling like life is piling troubles on your shoulders. While they are not the cure — brownies are a quick and easy craving buster that are a cinch to whip up and have you back on the road to coping.

Double Chocolate Fudge Brownie. I have become friends with my treadmill again.

Eat them warm with ice cream and fudge sauce, or exercise extreme patience like I do and wait until they're cool and chewy. Enjoy!

Double Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
Equipment required: Large bowl, whisk, spatula, 9" x 13" pan, parchment paper (see step 3)
4 oz unsweetened chocolate
1 cup butter
2 cups sugar
4 eggs
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/3 cup all purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt
1 cup chocolate chips, preferably dark chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350°F . Melt chocolate and butter together. Whisk until smooth. Add sugar and stir until smooth. Add eggs one at a time and whisk after each addition until smooth. Add vanilla and almond extracts and stir.
2. Add in flour, baking soda and salt and fold gently until just mixed together. Gently stir in chocolate chips.
3. Pour batter into 9" x 13" pan. I use a glass pan so I don't have to prep anything. If you use a metal pan, I suggest lining it with parchment paper first.
4. Bake for 30-35 minutes, or until a tester inserted into brownies comes out just slightly moist.
5. Cool on wire rack and store covered in the refrigerator.

Variations

• Cherry & Lavender: In Step 2, substitute chocolate chips for 1 cup dried cherries and 1/4 cup culinary lavender blossoms (I purchased both items at Galloway's). Reduce almond extract to 1/4 teaspoon. 
• Nuts 'n' Chocolate: Add 1 cup chopped nuts (your choice) in Step 2.
• Rocky Road: Add 1 cup chopped pecans and 1 cup chopped marshmallows to regular recipe in Step 2. I like marshmallows from The Pink Spatula. You could use mini marshmallows, too.