Two old geezers talking about skid marks

Last night we were talking to Dylan through FaceTime while he made some Vegetable Broth Base, which Dylan insisted a while back that I bold on the "Recipes" page and that he says is their "most-used recipe," probably "3x a week," so you never know what's going to catch on with someone. While we were chatting, Dylan showed us the latest feature of their revamped kitchen—a pegboard modeled on the one pictured above in the UaKS header 🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝🠝. I love that Moriah spray-painted it a bright color to bring a pop of JOY into their kitchen.

 

Among the other topics of conversation was that it's a good thing Brad is still home so it's not just "two old geezers talking about skid marks" in their underwear. So any pride I felt at having Dylan and Moriah make use of the "two best features" of Dylan's formative kitchen—the pegboard and the spice drawer—was tempered by a solid dose of reality. Thanks for keeping it real, Dylan!

 

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After having the [supposedly] Last Banana Bread go through two later versions, I've probably sworn off of saying anything is the "last" version of something I'll ever make. But if I were still doing that, I'd probably say these are my "last" brownies.* I've also stopped trying to come up with a brownie recipe that Brad likes as much as his beloved Ghirardelli Triple Chocolate brownies from a box mix. But even though I wasn't aspiring to that lofty standard when I made these brownies for an impromptu Thanksgiving gathering with the family, I seemed to have lucked into the gold standard, as Brad said these were at least as good as the Ghirardelli brownies. And they're definitely better and easier than our old standby recipe for gluten-free Fudgy Brownies. So these will be our boldface brownies on the Recipe page going forward.

 

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*Until I try Christina Tosi's pretzel flour brownies anyway.

Flourless Double Chocolate Brownies

Adapted from Genevieve Ko, from the Los Angeles Times (Apr. 15, 2020) (article)

Time: ~50 minutes total (18 minutes to make the batter)

113 grams (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
180 grams (1 cup) semi-sweet chocolate chips + 90 grams (½ cup)
140 grams (~⅔ cup) granulated white sugar
48 grams (~½ cup) unsweetened cocoa powder, natural or Dutch processed
¼ teaspoon Diamond Crystal kosher salt
3 large eggs (~57 grams each still in the shell), at room temperature
75 grams (¾ cup) toasted, coarsely chopped walnuts, optional

    1. Place a rack in the center of the oven; heat to 325 degrees. You can make these in an 8-inch square glass or metal baking pan. If you're using a glass pan, grease it with butter or spray with nonstick cooking spray. If you're using a metal pan (recommended), tear off a 12-by-12-inch sheet of aluminum foil. Turn the pan upside down, center the foil on it, and fold the excess evenly over the sides of the pan. Fold and crease the corners like you're wrapping a present. Slip the liner off the pan. Turn the pan right side up and insert the liner, carefully working it into the corners of the pan. Spray the liner with nonstick cooking spray.
    2. In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and 180 grams (1 cup) of chocolate chips over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally.
    3. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, whisk together the sugar, cocoa, and salt; but if your cocoa is lumpy, sift it into the bowl through a fine-mesh strainer with the sugar, then stir in the salt.
    4. Crack the eggs into the bowl and whisk until smooth. While whisking, pour the melted chocolate mixture into the bowl in a steady stream; whisk until smooth. Stir in the 90 grams (½ cup) of chocolate chips and, if using, the walnuts.
    5. Using a silicone spatula, scrape the batter into the prepared pan. Bake until a toothpick inserted close to the center comes out with some moist crumbs attached, about 30 to 35 minutes; don’t overbake.
    6. Transfer the pan to a wire rack and cool completely. (If you used a foil-lined metal pan, you can lift the foil out of the pan after about 15 minutes and place on the wire rack so the brownies will cool a little more quickly.) When cool, cut into 16 squares.