Before we came home from Cambodia we had two foods we were looking forward to at home: brownies and Mexican food. We're easy to please! My mom had brownies waiting for us upon arrival, and in the two weeks following our return I think I had Mexican food for 90% of our meals out (which was often). I know what I want, and I'm gonna get it! (and I did!)
After that, though, our brownie consumption rapidly decreased. Derek, the chocolate fiend of the two of us, asks for brownies pretty much every day — and much to his chagrin, I do not usually oblige. This weekend at the beach, I finally gave in. We'd had a great day driving out to the coast, walking up to the top of the Astor Tower {here's the view!}, taking in the gorgeous views, and it felt like brownies would be a good way to top it all off. That, and why WOULDN'T you make brownies for a fun/relaxing/active weekend at the beach? Yeah, answer that one and I'll be impressed!
So, I whipped up batch of brownies. The only issue was the chocolate supply, which was pieced together from personal caches (chocoholism actually runs in my family), and resulted in delightfully chocolatey brownies. These pictures are not of those brownies, but of another batch I made yesterday — TWO BATCHES OF BROWNIES IN THREE DAYS! Wife of the Year? Yeah, I already got that locked down.
We actually talked about these brownies, and how using dark chocolate in place of semi-sweet would be a great addition, during one of our beach walks this weekend. Derek suggested I make some "chunks for my hunk" — referring to himself — to which I giggled. He then continued in that vein and suggested we start a charity for hunky firemen who might need some cookies or brownies or something, again called "Chunks for Hunks." HA! That guy. We finally concluded that firefighters, while they do great work and I'm so grateful for that, probably don't need our charity — and especially not in the form of brownies and cookies. I'm pretty sure out charitable efforts can be put to use elsewhere, and our brownies and cookies are happy in MY belly. Oooh that makes me sound selfish. Any firefighters out there? You are WELCOME to have some chunks for hunks brownies!
For this recipe I used the base of my favorite fudge brownie recipe, but omitted the semi-sweet chocolate and replaced it with heaps of chunky dark chocolate. We buy the Trader Joe's pounders, which are MASSIVE slabs of chocolate, so I just cut one of those bad boys up. Not the whole thing. That would be a LOT of chocolate. I cut the chocolate into all different sizes, some very small that melted right into the brownies as they baked, and some quite large that remained intact and provided boulders of chocolatey goodness in a bite of brownie! The only other difference between this recipe and my usual one is the chocolate — I didn't have Dutch-processed cocoa, so I used normal and swapped the baking powder for baking soda. SCIENCE, PEOPLE! If you're still wondering when/why/how/what about regular cocoa and Dutch-processed, Joy has you covered.
Dark Chocolate Chunk Brownies
- Prep Time: 10 mins
- Cook Time: 25 mins
- Total Time: 35 minutes
- Yield: 12-16 1x
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted butter
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoon sugar
- ⅔ cups unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 Tbsp vanilla extract
- 2 large eggs
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup coarsely chopped dark chocolate
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F, and lightly grease an 8x8" pan. You can line it with parchment, too, if you want to be able to remove the brownies all at once.
- In a saucepan over medium-low heat, or in a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter.
- Once melted, add the sugar and cook for another minute.
- Remove from heat and add the cocoa and salt. Stir to combine.
- Add the vanilla, and then the eggs one at a time. Whisk fully so that the mixture is smooth and glossy.
- In a separate bowl, whisk together the baking soda and flour. Add to the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Stir in the dark chocolate. If your mixture is still warm and you don't want the dark chocolate to melt, wait 5-10 minutes for it to cool before mixing the chunks in.
- Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and cook for 25-30 minutes - the top should have a thin crust, but the center will still be quite moist.
- Let cool 20 minutes before cutting and serving.
Matt Robinson says
Wow Mary, these look so perfect. Love the pictures!
Mary says
Thanks, Matt! The tasty subject definitely made photographing easier 😉
Jess Zimlich says
My mouth actually starting watering when I saw these. Pinning these bad boys for a cozy Saturday baking session 😉
Mary says
Ha! I love it! Have fun with these 🙂
Nora @ Savory Nothings says
Oh my, do those brownies look delicious or what?! I just made some this week but I will probably need to make another batch. And another and another... 😀
Mary says
Thanks, Nora 🙂 You can never have too many brownies, in my opinion!! Enjoy!
Graham @ Glazed & Confused says
These are perfect. I always use semisweet (or even milk sometimes!) but all of that dark chocolate has me ready to whip up a batch myself.
Mary says
Thanks, Graham! I'm absolutely a milk chocolate person usually, but these are worth giving dark a try 🙂 Enjoy!
Thalia @ butter and brioche says
This brownies look SO incredible, fudgy and delicious! Wish I had one to devour right now.. Pinned and saved to recreate!
Mary says
Thanks, Thalia! These are fo realsies AMAZING!
Michelle @ Flour and Aprons says
They look beautiful and moist. Pinned! 🙂
Mary says
Thanks, Michelle!
Alexandra says
YUM! A while back I tried Smitten Kitchen's brownie recipe and I'll NEVER make boxed brownies again. Can't wait to try this recipe 🙂 Happy Friday!
Mary says
Thanks, Alexandra! I hope you like them! Have a wonderful weekend 🙂
Sierra says
Hey! I made these tonight and was super disappointed because 1 tsp of salt was waaaaaaaaay too much! It was like a salt brownie!!! Everything else was perfect but the extremely bitter salty taste. :/ ingredients wasted. Maybe 1/2 tsp next time?
Mary says
Bummer you didn't like them, Sierra! Definitely do what you need to next time!
Karen says
Hello Mary
I just made these brownies and into the oven to bake and let me tell y’all the brownies are smelling delicious omg. I went right by the recipe BUT I did chop a handful of pecans because sometimes you feel like nut ?. Your pictures look very brownie craving delicious yummy!! I’m thinking just 25 minutes to brownie heaven is all it takes.Sooo enticing brownie pictures & easy enough recipe, just do it. WOW now I can’t wait.
Oh OMG I can hear the oven timer YES it’s time to take the brownies out stick a fork it they are done. Hang Time out, I’ll be back! Ok here it is y’all my Taste test reveals chocolate deliciousness brownie heaven in my mouth. Thank you for your heavenly brownie recipe these are A real American made treat For the Fourth of July. Call me the copy cat I won’t mind it because a delicious brownie is important to all brownie cravers like myself. I will bake these again. Thank you and Happy Fourth to you Mary. ????????.
Karen Long says
Hello Mary
This simply is a delicious brownie recipe. Thank you for sharing this with me. I left you a long reply saying much more about the great tasting brownie on the Pinterest page where I found this recipe. It’s more descriptive with good humor hope it will post here for others to read also. Thanks agin happy fourth. Karen Long.
★★★★★
Neeraja says
Wow amazing
★★★★★