You Deserve Brownies

When I have a long, hard week, all I want to do was bake tasty treats. Brownies are a fairly quick and easy dessert to make. Which means that they’re a perfect pastry to add a little self-care to your day. When you’v’e been working hard and you don’t have a lot of time or energy, it just takes a few minutes whip up this one-pot recipe. In no time you’ll be digging into a treat that is the equivalent of an appreciative, loving, hug to yourself. Life is too short to deny yourself dessert, so never skip on a chance to show yourself the appreciation you deserve!

You don’t need a lot of flour in this recipe, just enough to give it structure. In fact, you can sub with just about any flour, such as almond flour or a gluten-free blend, which is wonderful news if you’re avoiding gluten! Go ahead and substitute cane sugar for your favorite low-calorie sweetener and you’re edging towards a healthy dessert that, with some of the additions described below, can change the way you feel about your whole day.

My addition of chocolate liqueur not only adds rich flavor, but moisture. This isn’t a dry cakey brownie. It’s very moist with a velvety texture, somewhere between fudgy and cakey and, to me, that’s the perfect brownie texture. To maximize the velvety-ness, let the brownies cool in the pan after you pull them out of the oven.

Why it works >> If you cook brownies too much, they can get dry. For that awesome, foolproof, velvety texture, cook around 25-30 minutes and then let them cool in the pan – they’ll keep cooking as they gradually cool and end up with that perfect texture.

I like to use bar chocolate rather than chocolate chips. I like the way a chopped chocolate bar pools in geometric designs rather than the nice concentric circles you get from chips. And, while you can certainly substitute chocolate chips if that’s what you have on hand, I find bar chocolate tastes better. It’s made to be eaten all by itself. There are so many incredible bar chocolate options out there, from milky smooth Cadbury to rich dark Guatemalan single-origin. And it’s a weirdly romantic ingredient – chopping my own chocolate from a bar makes me feel cheffy and cool.

A note on instant coffee: Instant coffee is the bestest bestie of chocolate. Just a few teaspoons in the mix can elevate your brownies from an average treat to a crack-like new obsession. Trust the process – it wont taste like coffee, but it rounds out chocolate and wakes it up with a kind of depth and richness you never knew was there.

You can add all kinds of fun things to this recipe. Some popular choices are chocolate chips, candy bar pieces, Reese’s mini cups and dried fruit. Or swirl something yummy in like caramel sauce, peanut butter or your favorite jam. Sub with another liqueur, like that bottle of fancy Burbon you got for Christmas a few years ago (I see you).

Little known fact: Brownies are better the next day. The flavors all have a chance to make good friends with each other when you loosely cover and leave them on the counter overnight.

These brownies freeze very well, so you can have brownies in minutes if you individually wrap the cut and cooled squares and freeze. Just take them out of the freezer and zap them in the microwave for 20 seconds. Or pop into your lunch sack – by the time lunch rolls around, they’re thawed and ready to eat. Or cut the squares into smaller cubes and freeze for a quick and decadent ice cream topping!