The Very Best Brownies

My mom & I found this recipe for Easy Double Chocolate Chip Brownies when I was in middle school trying to raise funds for winter camp.  Years later, while trying to impress my boyfriend (now husband) with my mad baking skills, everything went wrong and the charred brownies flew out of the oven and onto the floor barely missing my beau's feet!  We had a good laugh about it, but they've turned out right every time since then...  I still can't believe he actually let me try again!  That's true love!

My tips:
I keep my giant 72 ounce bag o' chips from Costco in the freezer at all times!  I don't put nuts in the brownies because I don't always know if the people I plan to share with can have them.  I only bake them for 17 minutes and serve them quickly after they come out of the oven with whipped cream, chocolate sauce & caramel sauce.  They just melt in your mouth, and the little bits of chips that you stir in at the end add that extra-chocolatey-ooey-gooey-goodness!

My Favorite Chocolate Cake for 3 Occasions!

The picture does not do this cake justice (it always gets gobbled up before I can snap a good shot)!  I found this recipe in the September, 2008 edition of Gourmet Magazine and made it in December that year for my mother-in-law's birthday.  It was a risk for me because I'm a very visual person and there was not a corresponding picture when I found it toward the back of the mag.  Though, I could easily imagine the cake once I read over the recipe.  I've made it quite a few times in the last few years, and I made it for our New Year's Eve/friend's birthday/another friend's anniversary bash yesterday and it was a hit!  It's a very rich cake, and small pieces are advised with a dollop of whipped cream.  A word to the wise, there are 3 steps to making this cake and there is a waiting period between each step, so you might want to make the crust and the filling the day before, and then glaze it about an hour before you present it, but making it all the day of really tastes the best!  Enjoy...


The changes I made to accommodate my kitchen:


Buy one 11.5 ounce bag of Ghirardelli 60% cacao baking chips for the following - 


FOR THE FILLING -- change:  9 oz bittersweet chocolate (not more than 65% cacao if marked), chopped ---> 1 1/2 Cup Ghirardelli Chips


FOR THE GLAZE -- change: 1 3/4 oz bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped  --->  1/3 Cup Ghirardelli Chips


I also use a 9" springform pan and it works just fine!