Homemade Chocolate Brownies

Instructions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees, and make sure one rack is in the middle. Line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper. Roughly chop the chocolate (a serrated knife works best for this, fyi) and put the chocolate and the butter together into a metal or other heat proof bowl over a small saucepan with water in it (or a double boiler) — you don’t want the water to touch the bottom of the bowl. Have the water at a simmer. Melt the chocolate and butter together, stirring frequently so the chocolate doesn’t burn, and then remove from heat and let cool until it’s just warm to the touch. Either use same bowl or transfer chocolate to the bowl you want to make your batter in. Add the sugar, vanilla, and salt to the bowl and whisk them into the chocolate/butter mixture. Then add the eggs one at a time, and whisk until the batter is shiny and smooth, about 1 to 2 minutes. And finally, add the flour and stir with a rubber spatula until the flour has disappeared. Transfer the batter to the prepared pan and smooth out the top. Bake for 20 minutes, rotating halfway through. Cool on a rack, cut into 16 pieces and eat, preferably with cold ice cream.