Best Cocoa Brownies

What do you get when you try to put a piece of warm brownie on top of your icebox in the freezer? Soggy brownies!!!

Ok, now...don't tell my colleagues why my brownies taste so wet moist.

Right. So I tried to freeze my brownies a little to have a cleaner cut for my brownie squares. Foolishly placed them on top of my icebox and yeah...the rest is history. But they kinda dry themselves up after staying in the fridge overnight heehee?

Moving on from my unfortunate accident, I actually like these brownies. The coolest thing about this recipe is, I was half-expecting a dry and cakey brownie as there's not a morsel of bar chocolate being used! But notttt...it turned out to be equally fudgy and chewier than its melted-chocolate counterparts. I guess I did not execute the 40 strokes of vigorous beating as well, so it did not turn out as chewy as it can be (but still pretty chewy imo!) Most of my colleagues found it tad-too sweet, I guess american recipes do sometimes find themselves over-topping the sweetness charts for our local tastebuds. It's a fairly simple and satisfying bake but I'm still in search of my perfect brownie.

Best Cocoa Brownies (adapted from Alice Medrich's Bittersweet)

Ingredients:
140g unsalted butter
250g sugar
72g cocoa powder (natural or dutch processed are fine)
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pure vanilla extract
2 eggs, cold
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
70g all purpose flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 165°C and line a 8" x 8"baking tray with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on two opposite sides.
2. Combine the butter, sugar, cocoa, and salt in a bowl and set the bowl in a wide skillet of barely simmering water
3. Stir from time to time until the butter is melted and the mixture is smooth and hot enough that you want to remove your finger fairly quickly after dipping it in to test.
4. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is only warm, not hot. It looks fairly gritty at this point, but don’t fret — it smooths out once the eggs and flour are added.
5. Stir in the vanilla
6. Add the eggs one at a time, stirring vigorously after each one
7. When the batter looks thick, shiny, and well blended, add the flour and stir until you cannot see it any longer
8. Beat batter vigorously for 40 strokes with the wooden spoon or a rubber spatula
9. Spread evenly in the lined pan.
10. Bake until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly moist with batter, 20 to 25 minutes.
11. Let cool completely on a rack
12. Lift up the ends of the parchment or foil liner, and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares