Triple Chocolate Brownies - one bowl recipe

There is no such thing as too much chocolate. Double chocolate, chocolate fudge, chocolate truffle, triple chocolate brownies and Death by Chocolate cake and DBC ice-cream etc. etc. are testimony to that sentiment. Don't you agree?

A couple of months back after baking, the chocolate truffle brownies, since I had run out of baking chocolate I went ahead and purchased some Dark, Milk and White chocolate just to keep some on hand. To be honest most of the milk chocolate is already gone, thanks to all the chocolate lovers at home 😋 

When the kids asked to bake something this weekend, I decided I will put the baking chocolate to good use. There are these most dependable no-fail recipes at joyofbaking.com. I have baked a lot of goodies from here, especially brownies. This recipe for Triple Chocolate brownies has been on my bake-again list for a long while now. It is a one-bowl recipe and very simple to bake. So the choice was made. 

Recipe (makes 25 brownies)

Ingredients:

Raw peeled Hazelnuts - 1 cup (optional) see note
Dark chocolate - 115g
Unsweetened dark chocolate - 30g

Cold unsalted butter, diced - 1/2 cup (113g)

Cocoa powder - 2 tbsp
Granulated while sugar - 1 cup

Vanilla extract - 1tsp 
Eggs - 3 large at room temperature

Flour - 3/4 cup
Salt - 1/4 tsp

Note: I used 1/4 cup of dark chocolate chips instead of the hazelnuts. 

Method:

If using hazelnuts, roast them for about 15 mins until slightly brown and fragrant. Let them cool down and chop them coarsely. 

My kids do not prefer nuts in baked goods and hence I omitted them. I used 1/4 cup of chocolate chips instead.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees C. Line a 8" square pan with parchment paper. Butter the parchment paper and keep aside. 

Chop the dark chocolate and unsweetened chocolate finely and add them to the diced butter in a glass bowl. Microwave on low power at 30 second intervals until the butter and chocolate have melted. It is important to keep mixing the butter and chocolate for every iteration of microwaving else the chocolate can get overheated. 

Mix in the cocoa powder and sugar, followed by the vanilla extract. I just used a wire whisk this time. I did not use my hand mixer. 

Add the eggs one at time and mix in until incorporated fully. Finally add the flour and salt and mix. 

If using the nuts or chocolate chips, add in at this stage. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Use a silicone spatula to smooth out the top. 

Bake for about 20-25 mins. At the 20 min mark, check if a toothpick inserted comes out with a few moist crumbs and stop if done. 

I felt I had over-baked the brownies. I will be sticking to 20 mins next time. 

Let the brownies cool down in the pan for about 5-10 mins and then place on a wire rack to cool. 

Slice them only when they are completely cool about an hour or so. Tough I know with kids hovering around asking if we can slice, but mommies, please stand your ground. It is worth it. 😈

Slice the brownies into 25 squares. I make 25 small squares instead of 16 large squares as it makes nice bite sized pieces. 

Verdict: About half of these were gone on the day they were baked and the rest the second day. Need I say more? 😊