Triple Chocolate Sea Salt Brownies.

Morish bites of luxury? Say no more. Whilst I fancy myself a pretty good baker, brownies have always been my Achilles’ heel. There’s always been that extra something to achieving the perfect texture that I have struggled with when it comes to brownies. This recipe, however, is the best one I have come across, and even I produced the perfect batch.

Ingredients

• 8 tablespoons (115 grams) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (190 grams) light or dark brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 teaspoon flaky sea salt, or 1/4 teaspoon coarse sea salt
• 1 cup (130 grams) all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 cups mix-ins of your choice (my favourite: 1 cup chocolate chips plus 1/2 cup chopped toasted walnuts)

Instructions

1. Heat oven to 180°C, or gas mark 4.
2. Butter an 8×8-inch baking pan, or line the bottom and two sides of one with parchment paper, buttering the exposed parts.
3. Melt butter in a small saucepan; I like to keep cooking it, stirring occasionally, until it becomes toasty and browned at the bottom and has an unbelievable aroma. It’s definitely worth the trouble here. Pour into a medium or large bowl and whisk in the sugar until smooth. At this point, it should be cooled to lukewarm, but if it’s not, let it rest for a few minutes until it is.
4. Then whisk together: the egg, vanilla, and sea salt.
5. Stir in flour and additions of your choice, I like to add walnuts.
6. Scrape into prepared pan and smooth with a spatula; the batter is thick and will take some nudging.
7. Top the batter with more flakes of sea salt, evenly sprinkled.
8. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, until lightly browned at edges but looks a tiny bit underbaked. (I always err on the side of caution with baking times — nobody ever complained about a gooey-middle cookie.)
9. Let brownies cool in pan, or just let them cool in it for 10 minutes and use the parchment sling to slide them onto a cutting board. Cut into 16 or more squares.

Leftover brownies can be stored in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week.

*adapted from smitten kitchen