Bitty Baked Brownies

Salad justifies a brownie, right? Especially a bitty one. Good, because I'm pretty sure we had salad for dinner the night my friend Jessica and I made these little babies...And hey, we had a chocolate craving. What's a girl to do? Thank the Lord, I had all the ingredients on hand to make these. I had been wanting to make "The Baked Brownie" for a while, but it always seemed like too much work when I needed a brownie ASAP.

Since Jessica was over and willing to help, the prep time in half. Done.Now J is not normally a baker, but she was sweet to help me out. We learned how to halve a recipe haha- don't forget you must halve ALL the ingredients! :) We learned a lot too- did I mention that?

As for the brownies, they are so rich and decadent. You can really taste the quality in the chocolate. The directions said to wait until they were cool, but I thought they had a whole other dimension while warm and slightly gooey. With ice cream. :)

Baked Brownies
Makes about 16 bitty brownies
Adapted from Sweet Peas Kitchen

• 1/2 cup + 1/8 cup AP flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 TBSP dark unsweetened cocoa powder
• 5.5 ounces dark chocolate (60-72% cacao), coarsely chopped
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
• 1/2 tsp instant espresso powder
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 3 eggs, at room temperature
• 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray  an 8x8 inch baking pan and set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, salt and cocoa powder. Set aside.

 

In a large heat-proof bowl set over simmering water, stir together chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder until completely melted and smooth.

 
 

Turn off the heat and keeping the bowl over the water, add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined. Remove the bowl from the pan and cool to room temperature. I put mine in the fridge for about 5 minutes.

Once the chocolate mixture is cool, add 2 eggs and whisk until combined.



Add remaining egg. Add vanilla and stir until combined. Do not over-beat the batter or your brownies will be cakey and not fudgey.

Sprinkle the flour mixture over chocolate mixture and fold in using a spatula until just combined. A tiny bit of the flour mixture should still be visible.



Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth the top.



Bake in the center of the oven for 22-25 minutes until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, rotating the pan halfway through. Cool pan on wire rack and cool mostly before cutting and serving. :) I like mine with a scoop of vanilla bean. Just a bitty baby one though...