Brownies Part Trois, Outrageous Brownies Part Deux

This week, the sun in Seattle finally made its appearance. Oh, but just as the sun came out, the "interesting" people came out as well. These "interesting" people were the most, hmmm, I think I better describe them. One of them was a woman dressed up in cat ears and whiskers with a sort of forest-y outfit. Another 2 people were dressed up in purple spandex from head to toe. Literally, spandex covering the face. ha. Another person was wearing a ninja type mortal combat outfit. I thought Halloween was over months ago? But to top it all off, I was called a "yellow monkey" by an elderly russian who then preceded to shove me from my backpack. Rude, much? I'm telling you, all the "crazies" are coming out with the sun!

Another thing that's crazy is why I've had a whole string of brownie/cookie type recipes for the past 2 weeks. Keeping that in mind, I was reminded of my hunt for a perfect brownie recipe that was still on-going. I was looking for brownie recipes and I just had this urge to bake Ina Garten's Outrageous a second time to see if things will be different.

As I was making the batter I was getting pretty happy at the way things were going. The batter was beginning to look and taste a whole lot different than the first time. Oh man, was my hopes in these brownies being built up or what? I put these in an 8x8 pan, since I made 1/4 of the recipe, placed them in the oven and crossed my fingers. Are these THE BROWNIE RECIPE? The taste was there, but the texture, not so much...

Tips
-I made 1/4 of the recipe since this was another "testing out" of the recipe
-I used 1/2 tsp of Instant Espresso powder for 1/4 of the recipe which makes it out to be 2 tsp for the whole recipe

Results
Taste: Intensely chocolately! Strong, rich flavor from the chocolate, a bit on the sweet side but not overpoweringly sweet with slight hints of coffee flavor.

Texture: Not exactly the texture I want in a brownie. These tended to fall apart and not hold its shape so much when eating probably due to the low amount of flour. While reading other brownie recipes, they had about double the amount of  flour compared to this recipe. I would try increasing the flour by 1/2  to 3/4 cup maybe and see how that goes.

Outrageous Brownies
Recipe by Ina Garten

Ingredients
1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules (I would change this to 2 tsp Instant Espresso Powder)
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet.

Melt together the butter, 1 pound of chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup of flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour into the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven shelf to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not overbake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

-Aaron John