Julia Child Brownies, a.k.a. Chocolate Heaven

I first had these brownies at a book club a couple of weeks ago. We were discussing Julia Child's autobiography, "My Life in France" (and, as is the highly entertaining habit of this book club, by "discussing," I mean that after about an hour of talking, we mentioned the book and chatted about it for 10 minutes or so before returning to other topics). They were divine, and I almost killed myself by eating three or four of them.

Here is a link to the recipe. And here's a quote from the site to whet your appetite:

"Those who are passionate about brownies argue in defense of their favorite type, cakey or fudgey. If you're a cakey fan, go on to another recipe. These are the epitome of soft, dark baked-just-until-barely-set brownies. Their creamy texture makes them seem wildly luxurious and very much a treat to be meted out in small servings (just small enough for a scoop of ice cream and some chocolate sauce). The mixing method is unorthodox for a brownie. Half of an egg-sugar mixture is stirred into the melted chocolate and butter, while the other half is whipped until it thickens and doubles in volume. The lightened eggs are folded into the chocolate with a delicate touch, as are the dry ingredients--tricks that enhance the brownies' lovely texture."


I baked them for about 30 minutes, and they were definitely fudgey. As you can see, some of them are still oozing chocolatey goodness. Personally, I loved them that way. But I also loved them the way I had them at the book club, which were a little more cooked. I'm guessing the baker that time followed the review recommendations on the site and baked them 40-50 minutes instead of 25. I think these are my favorite brownies now. And I'm never going back to the boxed kind! (Unless I'm feeling exceptionally lazy...)