Classic Chewy Chocolate Chip Brownies

Disclaimer: if you don't like chocolate, stop reading now.

Okay, so I've still got you reading, right? That's what I thought.

Just about a year ago, I went to San Francisco with two of my best friends, Vianna and Alex. We had an absolutely amazing trip, with highlights including the Redwoods in Muir Woods, wine tasting in Sonoma Valley, visiting our friend Kelcie at Stanford, a tour of Alcatraz, and of course Ghirardelli Chocolate. Unfortunately, my friend Alex does not like chocolate - so she falls into the category of people who were warned to stop reading at the beginning of this post. Despite the fact that Alex may not have been quite as excited as me and Vianna to visit a chocolate store, we went to Ghirardelli Square in Fisherman's Wharf to go to the flagship Ghirardelli store. There, we sampled some of the chocolates, watched chocolate being made, and made just a few purchases to bring home with us...

I was feeling a bit nostalgic for San Francisco when I set out to bake dessert for some of my friends this weekend. When I decided on brownies, I remembered that Ghirardelli has the one exception to my no-baking-with-a-mix rule: their Triple Chocolate Brownie Mix. Dear readers, don't be fooled - this isn't a post about baking from a mix. I reached the conclusion that if Ghirardelli makes such a good brownie mix, they must also have a good brownie recipe. And I was not disappointed. If you don't want to take the time to make these brownies from scratch, by all means, buy the mix as it's delicious. As far as I know, in Canada (or maybe its just Ontario, or Toronto for sure) you can only buy this product at Costco - which means you get enough mixes for 6 batches. That's a lot of brownies, but I can think of much worse things to buy in bulk. If you're like me and you don't have a Costco membership, and you like to bake your own desserts anyways - here's a pretty unbeatable recipe, from Ghirardelli.

THE RECIPE:

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
4 ounces semi-sweet chocolate
1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
1 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs
3/4 cups plus 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
A pinch of salt

The brown sugar reminded me of a heart

1. Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease an 8" square pan.
2. Chop the 4 ounces of semi-sweet chocolate into small pieces. In a double boiler (or a small pot onto of a bigger pot with boiling water, if you don't have a double boiler like me - or you can use a heatproof bowl in a pot of simmering water) - melt the chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally, until smooth.
3. Remove the pan from heat and allow to cool to room temperature. Stir the brown sugar and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Add eggs and mix well.
4. In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, until all the flour is incorporated.
5. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
6. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool before cutting.

Chocolate chips in chocolate - the best.

I love that these brownies have chocolate chips in them. They're chewy and extra chocolatey and just what a brownie should be. You can make them with Ghirardelli semi-sweet chocolate and chocolate chips, but they'll still be delicious with your regular Bakers chocolate and Chipits chocolate chips.

Happy Eating!

Caroline