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Brownies are a highly democratic dessert. It is rare to find someone, provided he or she is not actually allergic to chocolate, who will reject a nice, homemade brownie. Even brownies from a box are generally received with delight, though it beats me why people bother -- with the oil and eggs and so on you have to add to the mix, it may actually be easier to make them from scratch. It is certainly not difficult, and the results are worth the trouble many times over.
The last time I made our standard brownie recipe (modified from one that appeared in Cook's Illustrated many years ago), I doubled the vanilla. I'm not sure where that decadent impulse sprang from, but it was a success. As I like my brownies on the moist and sludgy side, the texture was, if anything, enhanced by the extra liquid, and the flavor was excellent. Suddenly, I wanted to double the vanilla in everything. On the other hand, I was using up my vanilla at an alarming rate, and not every recipe is as tolerant of variations in moisture as brownies are. So when I visited the Penzeys store recently, I bought a bottle of their double-strength vanilla. The nice woman working there told me, sadly, that the price of vanilla has been driven up by the introduction of Vanilla Coke (Coke is already the world's biggest buyer of vanilla, apparently, as it is one of the component flavors in cola). Double-strength vanilla is not cheap. It is, however, very good.
EXTRA VANILLA BROWNIES
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Farenheit.
2. Over low heat, melt 1 stick of unsalted butter (you may use salted butter, but you should then omit the salt later on) and 2 ounces of unsweetened (baker's) chocolate. When the chocolate is all but completely melted, remove pan from heat. The residual heat in the mixture will finish melting the chocolate.
3. While the chocolate mixture cools a bit, combine 2/3 cup flour, 1/2 teaspoon baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. Also butter and flour an 8" square baking pan.
4. Whisk 1 cup sugar into the chocolate mixture.
5. Into this mixture, whisk 2 large eggs and either 1 teaspoon of double-strength vanilla or 2 teaspoons of ordinary vanilla.
6. Stir in the flour mixture and pour the batter into your baking pan.
7. Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the center is gently set and a toothpick emerges moist, but not gloppy.
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