Kittencal's Extreme Chocolate Brownies

Who is Kittencal, you ask?  She's a darn fine cook, for one.  She also has her own food blog , and she's one of the top contributors to www.food.com (It used to be www.recipezaar.com, but they paired with Food Network and changed the name of the site.  I'm still a bit miffed about that.  "food.com" is so bland.) 

I never liked homemade brownies because I never found a recipe that was gooey enough (cakey brownies stink), or chocolatey enough, or moist enough, or sweet enough.  I stumbled upon Kittencal's recipe and was instantly hooked.  You've never had a brownie until you've tried one of these.  I'm typing the recipe as posted at www.food.com, but instead of all white sugar, I use half dark brown and half white, and I use two cups of bittersweet chocolate chips and two cups of semi-sweet.

Much like vanilla sugar's recipe for the 1/4 lb. Double Chocolate Cookies I posted a while ago, this brownie recipe is one of those "Oh-my-God-I-need-chocolate-NOW" recipes that will definitely satisfy your craving.  (And yes--that's a jelly  jar full of milk.  I did that for two reasons:  1) my husband takes coffee to work in the morning in our drinking glasses and forgets to bring them back inside when he gets home; and 2.  I'm a bumpkin at heart.  Stuff tastes better out of jelly jars.  (Especially moonshine.  Heh--just kidding about that last part.)

Kittencal's Extreme Chocolate Brownies

2/3 cup butter or 2/3 cup margarine

1 1/2 cups sugar (reduce to 1 1/4 cups for a less sweet taste)

1/4 cup water

4 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips, divided

2 teaspoons vanilla

4 eggs

1 1/2 cups flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees and grease a 13x9 pan.

In a heavy saucepan, bring butter, sugar and water to the boil, stirring constantly until the butter is melted and sugar is dissolved (about 3 minutes).  Remove from heat, and with a wooden spoon, stir in two cups of the chocolate chips until melted; cool slightly and beat in vanilla

In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs and gradually add in the chocolate mixture, beating with a wooden spoon until completely mixed.

Mix together flour, baking soda and salt; add to the egg/chocolate mixture and mix well to combine.  Stir in remaining chocolate chips.  Spread into prepared baking pan and bake for 35-40 minutes* (Do not over-bake.)  Cut into squares.

Note: If desired, chopped walnuts may be added.

*NOTE:  I usually bake mine for about 45 minutes.  I have a slow oven.  Gooey brownies are delicious--raw ones are not.  :)