salted brownies
dessert brought to you by the PMS angels. A homespun predecessor to the foodie trend of salted caramels etc, this is culinary genius, far more than the sum of its parts, and easy as pie never really is. A certain Ms. Kate Krader has been making these fudgy, sweet-salty brownies since she was 10 years old. I got the recipe from the sex librarian who immediately doles out the goods lest she eat the whole batch herself—thanks!
preheat your oven to 350°. Line a 9 inch metal cake pan (round or square) with foil and lightly butter the foil.
chop up two ounces of unsweetened fair trade chocolate.
in a fairly large saucepan over low heat, melt a stick and a half of unsalted butter—the closer to home the better, and if you know the cow, even better! Stir in the chocolate bits until they’ve melted too. Turn off the heat, and whisk in a heaping ¼ cup plus two tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa, two cups of sugar, three large eggs, and a teaspoon and a half of vanilla. Using a wooden spoon, stir in one cup of all purpose flour.
pour the shiny brown batter into your pan and smooth the surface with the back of the spoon. Sprinkle about a teaspoon of coarse sea salt across the surface. Drag a butter knife through the pan, swirling the salt just barely into the surface of the batter.
bake in the center of the oven for about half an hour, until the edge is set but the center is still a bit soft. Let the brownies cool at in the pan until room temperature. Lift the brownies from the pan and peel off the foil, slice, eat.
eat in hand broken wedges to nurse broken hearts. To seduce warming ones, serve with the simplest heavy whipped cream and raspberries.
