Baking Brownies

I made these brownies from scratch on Friday. I decided to try this new thing where instead of buying candy to add to the gigantic stash in my night table drawer, I would just bake something once a week in order to save on the grocery bill.

This recipe comes from Amy Sedaris' I Like You: Hospitality Under the Influence, which has got to be the greatest cookbook in existence. Her recipes are easy to follow and so delicious. I did a previous entry on her Yogurt Spa-Ghetti which is so yummy!

Here is the brownie recipe verbatim:

Aunt Joyce's Brownies

4 eggs, beaten until fluffy

1 cup sugar

1 cup flour, sifted

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 12-oz. package chocolate chips

2/3 cup unsalted butter

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Melt together chips and butter. Beat eggs and add in everything else.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Optional: Press pecans on top, down into dough.

Delicious goop! This is after I melted the butter and chocolate chips in the microwave. If I had a double boiler, you bet your sweet bippy I'd be using that! The chocolate I used was Guittard, which is the only chocolate I use in baking (I'm not a snob, it's the only cheap chocolate at the grocery store).
I ended up sifting all the dry ingredients because after beating those eggs, I just wanted to be finished with these brownies. When you beat the eggs, it's comparable to making merengue, be sure to spend plenty of time (this would have been great to use a KitchenAid mixer if I actually owned one). Notice how my sifter is KitchenAid? A girl can dream.
When I poured everything into this 8-inch pan, it had the consistency of pulled taffy. Like my floral apron?
When this fab thing comes out of the oven it is super fluffy but after it cools, the middle falls. Kind of like a souffle.
After this has cooled for an hour or two, I drape a thin kitchen towel over the top to help keep it extra soft and fluffy. I ended up refrigerating this after I ate my first piece (it ends up yielding 9 pieces) because the middle is so fudgy and oozy, I wanted it to stay in place. I'm sure it would taste good heated and served with a scoop of ice cream. Yum!