Oowey Gooey Brownies

Mmmm. Thankfully I was asked to make Brownies for a Church youth activity tonight. The recipe from Cooks Illustrated that I've been wanting to try for awhile had to wait when I didn't realize I had all the chocolates I wanted. So I found this one instead from Simply Recipes. Elise has never done me wrong. This recipe I guess originally came from Epicurious which of course I LOVE. Soooo, I just modified the almond/vanilla ratio and I think I prefer chocolate to the cocoa powder.

These brownies are sooooo oowey gooey. Heaven.

AND by the way, should you want to make enough brownies to fit into a large cookie sheet ... you will need to triple this recipe.

Ingredients

• 10 tablespoons (1 1/4 sticks) unsalted butter
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder or chocolate chips =)
  
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
  
• 2 cold large eggs
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1 Preheat oven to 325°F. Line the bottom and the sides of an 8-inch square baking pan with foil or parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides to make it easier to lift the brownies out of the pan when they are done.

2 Combine the butter, cocoa, sugar, and salt in a medium heatproof bowl. Set the bowl in a pot of barely simmering water. Stir the mixture until melted and is smooth. Remove the bowl from heat and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot.

3 Stir in the almond and vanilla extract. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring quickly after each one. When the batter looks shiny, thick, and well mixed, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer. Spread the batter evenly in the lined pan.

4 Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out just slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes. Let the brownies cool completely on a rack.