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We have lots of big changes going on in our family. Mostly because our younger daughter and her husband are expecting their first baby, and he is starting a new job and they are moving from Georgia to Pennsylvania.
Besides general moral support, we get to be involved to the extent that we are keeping Sammy the super-jowly dog while they get moved, as well as having them stay with us off and on through the process.
If there is a better time to make Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies than when there is a pregnant lady staying at your house, I don’t know when it would be. There is nothing more welcome when you are growing a whole other person in your belly than something rich and chocolatey and fudgey. [and you don’t have to be pregnant for that to be true, by the way]
These brownies do a very good job of satisfying those requirements. I used Dutch-process cocoa which, unlike natural cocoa has been treated to make it less acidic – this same process makes it darker as well. The most common grocery store brand is Hershey’s Extra Dark, but there are some premium brands that cost a little more and are of slightly better quality. I used the grocery store stuff for this batch and it worked very nicely.
There are different ways to make brownies, and each one yields a different result. For fudgey brownies, you start with melted butter, use more eggs, and less flour. To make sure you get every bit of chocolate flavor from the cocoa, mix it with the melted butter and let sit 10 minutes to fully blend with the fats – kind of getting hydrated in a way, before adding the sugar. 
Dark Chocolate Fudge Brownies
Ingredients
- 8 ounces butter
- 3/4 cup Dutch process cocoa powder
- 2 cups granulated sugar
- 4 room temperature eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup lightly toasted walnuts coarsely chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350º. Generously butter a 9 x 13 inch baking dish or pan. Or use two 8 x 8 inch pans, or two 9 inch round cake pans.
- In a large bowl, melt the butter - either on low power in the nicrowave, or over a pot of simmering water.
- Mix in the cocoa powder until fully incorporated and allow the mixture to sit for 10 minutes.
- Then, one a time, mix in the sugar, each of the eggs and the vanilla.
- In a smaller bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt.
- Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and fold together, just until combined.
- Spread the batter evenly in the prepared dish.
- Bake for about 25 minutes, until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs, but no batter at all.
Coconut Toffee Squares
Chocolate Pudding Cake
Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies
Chewy Toasted Coconut Squares
Orange Coconut Slices
Apple Pie Bars
S’more Chocolate Pie
Chewy Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Chewy Coconut Almond Blondies
Chocolate Espresso Spritz Cookies
Wow I can’t believe how gloriously dark these are! 😀
It’s all in the cocoa Lorraine!
Haha, I was thinking…maybe I should get pregnant so I can have an excuse to make these. But seriously, I think I should make these anyways. After all, I’m on holiday! (Teachers get it great. 2 weeks Spring Break? I’m loving it.)
This looks too good!
ATOM – your time is perfect then – I say go for it!
These look fab! 🙂
Thanks Jessica!
What an exciting time for you all. I hope the pregnancy goes well. In the meantime, how lovely to have your daughter and her husband living with you. I love the look of your brownies – so dark and rich! xx
Thanks Charlie – we are pretty excited about all of it!
wow those are black!
I love that color!
Thanks – black is always in season, right?
So dark, so rich, so yummy!!! Such exciting news of a new grandbaby! And how nice of you to babysit the pup 🙂
Thanks Liz – it is exciting & the pup is no trouble at all, even if he is bigger than the couch!
I’m a ( confessed) chocoholic and these brownies sounds like heaven to me.
They look fab, so moist and rich.
Ups , pressed the post comment button before I finished 🙂 – how wonderful that you will soon have a grandchild! Great news.
Thanks Daniela – she will be our third and we can’t wait. And so glad you l like the idea of the brownies!
Not sure what I did wrong, followed the recipe to the T. But unfortunately these were very Cakey and crumbly, did not look like the picture at all.