Seriously Fudgy Chocolate Brownies

These brownies are so incredibly rich & fudgy and dense...if you froze the whole pan and threw it like a brick, you could do some serious damage (so don't do that). I do like to keep mine frozen after I cut them up though. I suppose if you threw one of the frozen small squares at someone, it might sting a little and leave a fudgy brown welt behind (but don't do that either).

If you're asking yourself what's wrong with me, the answer is, I don't know. Maybe I had a block of frozen brownie dropped on my head as a baby. I'll have to ask my mom.

SERIOUSLY FUDGY CHOCOLATE BROWNIES
Makes 40-50 brownies, depending on size

3 sticks unsalted butter, cut into pieces
12 oz. good-quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped
6 large eggs
1 1/4 cups cake flour (not self-rising)
1 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch process)
3 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt

1.     Preheat oven to 350° F. Butter and flour a 13- x 9- x 2-inch metal baking pan, knocking out excess flour.

2.     Melt butter with chocolate in a large metal bowl set over a saucepan of barely simmering water, stirring until smooth.

3.     Remove bowl from pan and whisk in eggs, 1 at a time.

4.     Sift together flour and cocoa powder in a separate bowl and stir into batter with sugar and salt.

5.     Pour batter into pan and bake in middle of oven until top is firm and a tester inserted into center comes out with crumbs adhering, 30 to 40 minutes.

6.      Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 2 hours. Refrigerate for at least 2 hours before cutting into squares. Brownies keep, layered between wax paper in an airtight container, 5 days.

barely adapted from The Farm of Beverly Hills (Beverly Hills, CA)

melted chocolate & butter

The better the chocolate, the better the brownies
(do I even need to say that?).

mixing in the dry ingredients
I did add the eggs; I just forgot to take a photo.

batter mixed

batter in pan

baked

You definitely need to chill this in the fridge before cutting.
Once chilled, the entire block can be removed from the pan
(or you can just cut in the pan). I find it a little easier to do
it this way. Notice the left edge has already been cut off
(that's because I'm a freak for the chewy edges and set some aside).

I cut these into pretty small squares because they're so rich.

Behold the extreme fudginess (I'm not
sure a photo can even do it justice).

.