I won’t take even a smidgen of credit for these… (Okay, the frosting was my idea)
But…..
These were so good I woke up 3 or 4 times during the night just to blissfully remember how fantastic they were and to be grateful that there were crumbs left for breakfast.
I found the recipe on Leite’s Culinaria under the title of David Lebovitz’s Absolute Best Brownie. The recipe appears in his book: Ready for Dessert | Ten Speed Press, 2010 |
There, I think that takes care of ‘credit where it’s due’.
Oh, wait – David got the recipe from the late Robert Steinberg – but you can read that on his post (see link above). That explains the name. The recipe is reprinted from the blog post David Lebovitz’s Absolute Best Brownie
Robert’s Absolute Best Brownies Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 tbs butter, plus a bit more for the pan
- 8oz dark chocolate, in chunks
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 eggs, room temperature
- 1/4 cup flour
- 1 cup walnuts, chopped
- Dark Chocolate Glaze
- 4oz (120gr) dark chocolate, in chunks
- 1/2 cup heavy cream
Instructions:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C).
- Line the inside of an 8-inch square pan with 2 lengths of foil, laying them perpendicular to each other and folding the edges over to form handles (so you can lift the brownies out when they’re cool).
- Lightly butter the foil.
- In a medium saucepan melt the butter over low heat.
- Reduce heat, add the chocolate. Stir constantly until melted.
- Remove pan from heat, add sugar, vanilla and stir well.
- Add eggs and beat well with a medium-size wooden spoon.
- Add the flour and beat vigorously for 1 1/2 – 2 minutes. Better should be shiny and smooth.
- Stir in the nuts, and pour the batter into the pan.
- Bake for 30 minutes. The center should be almost set. Do not over-bake.
- Cool brownies completely in the pan.
- Lift the brownies out of the pan and loosen the foil on the sides and bottom. You can either leave them on the foil or put on a plate.
- Pour the glaze over the top and smooth to the edges.
- When the glaze is cool, cut and serve.
- Glaze:
- Heat the cream in a small saucepan over low heat.
- Add the chocolate and stir just until melted
This was for a small dinner party – I cut 4 nice squares out of the center and served it with vanilla ice cream.
It was a hit.
I had the edges the next day.
This was the very best chocolate dessert of any kind I have ever had, all the fancy restaurant desserts included. It was that good.
Really.
Of course we worked very hard to deserve all that lovely chocolate.
The fence is done on two sides… And he used the dirt from digging the post holes to fill in all the puppy holes. We weren’t able to teach the puppies to dig the post holes.
One of the reasons I wasn’t more upset about the damge they caused to my herb garden was I knew that this would happen to it – the fence went right down the middle. For obvious reasons we couldn’t put the new fence in the same place as the old fence.
I was able to move most of the surviving herbs to the new garden…. And the little wooden rabbit fence I had around the base of the old fence is making a great pathway and border. I’m still waiting for more of it so I can finish. He just started taking the old fence down.
We’re hoping that the new fence will be high enough to keep the girls in. They’re not looking too happy about it. They did manage to escape today for a wee run in the wheat. There was an opening in the only section where mon mari had to take the old fence down before putting the new one up. They saw an opportunity and took it.
They didn’t get any brownies.
Wowo looks super delicious i love how the surface of the brownie looks.
I LOVE David Lebovitz, he always has the best recipes! These brownies look amazing, you did such a great job with them.
Of course, brownies have to be iced. Otherwise, they’re not finished.
Those DO look like very good brownies. But are they as good as the “Brownies Cockaigne” in The Joy of Cooking (1975 edition)? These are our “absolute best brownies”. The two recipes are not unsimilar in the ingredients but quite different in the prep. (This is my take on the Joy recipe:
What kind of nuts did you use? (We always replace the nuts with Thompson raisins – we LOVE Thompson raisins in brownies.)
Not even a few crumbs for such lovely puppies? But look at those sweet innocent faces?! How could you say no.
Brownies look wonderful. Beautiful dogs. 🙂
We must be on the same wave length. I made brownies yesterday and I’ve been working on my garden, trying to dog-proof it.
Although, I do have my go-to brownie recipe…I’m certainly willing to give a go at another ‘best of’ recipe…especially when chocolate is involved.
BTW…maybe your four legged friends can enjoy this treat with carob?…I know mine would devour such a surprise ;o)
Ciao for now and flavourful wishes,
Claudia
Those two opportunists look so cute and wicked !! And as for the brownies – just delicious but wicked as well.
Bookmarked!!!!!!!!!!!!
It’s very rare that I make one of your recipes the very same day that you post it BUT today was that day! I actually had all the ingredients on hand. The brownies are cooling right now–slight cracking around the edges. That could be because of my oven. I could only choose between 165°C and 180° with my oven. Now, we’re all (especially the girls) waiting impatiently for them to cool. (My stand-by brownie recipe, although I wouldn’t call it the absolute best, more of a great workhorse one, is the America’s Test Kitchen lunchbox brownies–I can make it with my 4-year old and it still turns out great!)
Those rascal girls! Your new fence should keep them in, even with bunnies playing on the far side.
Thanks for leading us to this recipe…definitely booked marked and will make them soon!!
Happy Cook – it’s the glaze – it was wonderful….
Mary Ellen, I love him too, and thanks!
Elizabeth, I haven’t tried the other – these are the first brownies I’ve made in years. I don’t make sweet ;-). Walnuts, of course…. we have 3 trees.
Christine, thanks – on both counts.
Meredith, I don’t know about Duffy…. but with my two I don’t think it’s possible…. Bonne Chance!
FOODESSA, I’m not very well-versed in other brownies…. but I was very happy with these LOL
manningroad, they will take any and every chance to get out…. And do!
Val, you’ll be happy (I hope)
Erin, I do hope you were all happy with these….
Zoomie, Oh, I do hope so…. I’m getting so fed up with watching them all the time.
Joey, I’m glad I found it…. Hope you like it!
How can I say no to the absolute best brownies? Hmmm…I’ve gotta try this. Awesome pictures too. Poor doggies, no brownies. My yellow lab, loves anything chocolatey, and will die for brownies too…Thanks for sharing!
myfudo, I will share many, many things with my puppies…. I draw the line at chocolate. Until they develop opposable thumbs my chocolate is safe. And these really were THAT good :-))
Hey…I just saw this picture on Foodgawker and couldn’t stop appreciating the clicks!! The recipe sounds delish!!!Got to try this out for kids 🙂
Is there any chance a Kitchenaid stand mixer can do the vigorous mixing instead of my arm with the same results??
Love the recipe, can’t wait to try it!