chocolate chunk brownies with chocolate fudge frosting

I wrote this post three years ago but was craving these brownies today so decided to share them again.

Saturday night we celebrated Christie’s fabulous news with take-out Chinese, some bubbly and a huge pan of chocolate chunk brownies with chocolate fudge frosting. She was awarded a permanent teaching position. With her daughter off to university next year, the news couldn’t come at a better time. I can’t believe her baby girl is in her final year of high school. It seems like only yesterday that Christie and I were seventeen.

The summer before grade twelve, she and I weren’t able to find jobs so we decided to open our own business. We asked Dad to build us a food cart that we could push into King’s Square where we’d sell lunch treats. Every morning, we’d load our cart up with sandwiches, apples, watermelon slices, bags of popcorn and lemonade. Keep in mind that it was 1978, we didn’t have a lot of take-out competition in Uptown Saint John!

It was a magical summer. We saw the movie Grease a dozen times, dated twin brothers, made oodles of money that we blew on new clothes for school and, best of all, we spent the entire summer together. Back then, we had cast-iron stomachs. It would be nothing for us to eat salami, cheddar cheese and dill pickle sandwiches for breakfast! However, one night we decided to bake a chocolate cake mix and slather it with canned chocolate frosting. If memory serves me correctly, we almost finshed the entire cake, washing it down with a quart of whole milk. I was as sick as a dog. I’m sure it was the whole milk.

I baked these brownies thinking of those happy days and the happy days to come…

CHOCOLATE CHUNK BROWNIES WITH CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING

Preheat the oven to 350°F

4 large eggs
1 cup best-quality Dutch-process cocoa
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup butter
1 cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1½ cups all-purpose flour
2 cups chocolate chunks

THE STEPS:

• Grease a 9″ x 13″ pan
• Break the 4 eggs into a mixing bowl, and whisk them with the cocoa, salt, baking powder and vanilla until the batter is fairly smooth.

• In a microwave-safe bowl, melt the butter, then add and mix in the sugars. Continue to microwave in 10 second intervals, until the mixture is hot, but not bubbling.

• Add the hot butter/sugar mixture to the egg/cocoa mixture, stirring with a spoon until smooth.
• Add the flour and chips, again stirring until smooth.

• Pour the batter into your prepared pan.

• Bake the brownies for 25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.
• Remove them from the oven to cool on a rack before adding the frosting.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE FROSTING

2 ounces good quality dark chocolate, melted and cooled
1½ cups icing sugar
½ cup butter, at room temperature
Pinch of fine sea salt
1 tablespoons milk, more if necessary to make it creamy
½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract

THE STEPS:

• Beat butter, icing sugar and salt, in a large bowl with an electric mixer until fluffy.
• Add chocolate and milk, beat until fluffy.

• Scoop the frosting onto the cooled brownies and cover evenly.
• Cut into squares and serve.

THE LOVE: When you’re mixing your brownie batter, make sure you take the time to heat the butter mixture until it’s almost bubbling. It will dissolve more of the sugar, which will make a shiny top crust on your brownies.

Thanks for reading.

photography by michelle