I have a friend who requests one thing for his birthday every year - brownies. After a few trial and error batches with various recipes, I discovered this recipe two years ago and have never looked back - the combination of easy preparation and a texture that falls somewhere between a cake and a piece of fudge make this recipe a winner.

Ingredients:

• 6 oz 70% bittersweet chocolate, chopped
• 3/4 cup cold butter, cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 3 eggs
• 1 t vanilla
• 1 cup flour
• 1 cup chopped nuts (optional)

Preparation:
Preheat the oven to 325.

Melt the chocolate and the butter in a double boiler (or a glass bowl on top of a pot of simmering water).  Watch the consistency here, as one half of the equation will inevitably melt faster than the other and you don’t want anything to get scorched.

Stir the sugar into the chocolate until they’re blended. Add the vanilla. Temper the eggs by breaking them into a separate bowl, adding some of the chocolate mixture and beating it in, then pouring the eggs into the pot (if you don’t do this, it’s very likely that the combination of hot chocolate and eggs may result in a chocolate and sugar omelette, and that would just be a waste of good chocolate). Add the flour.  If you’re adding nuts, mix them in now.

Grease a 13x9 pan and pour in the batter. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with crumbs, not batter.

If you’re anything like me, you’ll be tempted to eat these as soon as they come out of the oven.  My advice to you is to wait!  As good as these brownies are when they’re warm, if you wait and let them completely set up overnight, you’ll get the most out of the brownie eating experience.