The Home Cook: Fudgy Pecan Brownies

Today I'm double posting. For a couple of reasons...it's been a long week and there really isn't a reason to hold on to this because brownies are the perfect stress reliever. Also, Tim and I are heading out on a mini-vacation to celebrate our 5th wedding anniversary so I won't be around until later next week. Thirdly...did I mention that these are brownies? How could I withhold brownies from you guys...that's just not right.

So last year I signed up for a subscription to Martha's Everyday Food. My cousin was selling magazine subscriptions as a fund raiser, I was interested, the price was good...anyway, I've got a lot of Martha now. Thing is, while I've got a ton of ear marked recipes I haven't made all that many and the few I have made were...rather, "eh". Granted, I wasn't real sold that I'd like them in the first place but a girl's gotta try and expand repertoire every now and again. So on Saturday night I pulled out the newest mailing and flipped through trying to find some inspiration for our Sunday picnic dessert. I wanted to try something that I knew I should LOVE, really see if my $18 was doing me any good.

I settled on the featured Reader Recipe and set to brownie making.

Now brownies and I, we have a troubled past. They fall squarely into the foods I should not attempt at home. But I love a good brownie and my past failures were, well, in the past. This recipe felt right and I'd watched enough of the Alton Brown episode on brownies to know I tend to over beat the batter and over or under cook them. With all this in mind I decided these brownies were not going to kick my ass, I would persevere. It also didn't hurt that this recipe is freakishly simple...brownie idiot or no, it's pretty hard to screw up.

I'm glad to say, there was no ass kicking this time around...they turned out great. Which means you should go make them. Make yourself feel better...have a brownie.

Pecan Fudge Brownies
Everyday FOOD - Reader Supplied Recipe, September 2008

1/2 cup Unsalted Butter
1 cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 teaspoon Baking Powder
1/8 teaspoon Salt*
2 ounces Unsweetened Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 ounce Semi-sweet Chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup Dark Brown Sugar, packed
1/4 cup Sugar
2 large Eggs
1 teaspoon Vanilla
1 cup Toasted Pecans, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350ºF degrees. Butter an 8-inch-square baking pan. Line bottom with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two sides. Butter paper; set pan aside. In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt; set aside.

Place butter and chocolates in a large heatproof bowl set over (not in) a saucepan of simmering water. Heat until smooth, 2 to 3 minutes, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, and stir in sugars, eggs, vanilla, flour mixture, and half of pecans. Transfer batter to prepared pan; smooth top. Sprinkle with remaining pecans.

Bake until a toothpick inserted in center comes out clean*, 30 to 35 minutes. Set pan on a wire rack; let cool completely. Using paper overhang, lift brownie onto a cutting board; cut into 16 squares. Store brownies in an airtight container at room temperature, up to 5 days.

Cook's Notes:

- *Salt, I really love a chocolaty/bit salty brownie so I upped it to 1/4 tsp. kosher salt. FYI either use kosher or don't up it...a 1/4tsp of table salt would be way too much.

- I used regular brown sugar since I don't keep dark brown sugar on hand.

- For the semi-sweet chocolate I used chips...no chopping. What can I say, I'm lazy.

- Toasted Pecans...my change...again. I prefer to pre-toast nuts before using them in most recipes, they don't get that soggy baked nut texture and have a better flavor. To toast pecans, preheat the oven to 350ºF, place nuts in a single layer on a non-stick or lined jelly roll pan and place in oven for 5-10 minutes or until nuts are crisp and have a nice nutty smell. Allow to cool slightly and proceed with the recipe as instructed.

- I didn't butter the parchment, just the bottom of the pan and it came out perfectly. In fact with all the butter in the recipe I'd butter the pan more sparingly next time.

- I baked my brownies for 30 minutes and the toothpick came out with fudgy clumps, which is what most brownie recipes recommend. If you want the toothpick to come out clean it's probably 35-40 minutes, though I think that would dry out the brownie too much. These came out nice and fudgy and weren't under done in anyway.

Yum.