more excuses...and a recipe

i am grateful today to announce that we are officially 100% after our family's worst experience with a stomach flu.  that is all i need to say about that.
 
And i must announce that i have officially misplaced my camera, which is a tragedy of serious proportion as i just figured out how to work it, and it was my birthday present, and it is awesome, and it contained the pictures for the next 3 blog posts that i had planned in my mind.
i am quite certain that a burglar came into the house and didn't have time to get my fabulous jewels, so he took my fabulous camera.
This may actually not be the case, but the family room was the last place that i used the camera and i am certain that i did not take it anywhere after that, so there can be no other explanation in my mind.

So despite there being no photos to entice you, i must share a recipe that i think rocks my baking loving world.

I recently started a subscription to Cook's Illustrated, i have previously purchased one or two of these magazines and cooked everything i could out of them.  But when i got a recent email with a special offer, i just had to go ahead and subscribe, because it is such a GREAT magazine.  Seriously, i have never made anything bad from these people.  This week was teacher appreciation week at frank's preschool, so it was a perfect opportunity to try this month's recipe entitled:
"Cracking the Code to Chewy Brownies."  the two months the author spent researching this recipe shows.  They are really, really, really, really good.  So good, in fact that i will do something that I HATE to do... i will type up the instructions just for you.  I will do this for you because l like all 12 of you, and because i feel bad that i don't have my camera to post pictures, and because i want you to still like me, even though i have become the world's most inconsistent blog person.  (i hate the word blogger, by the way and will never answer to that term.  in fact i hate the word Blog - but what can you do when that is the name that it has been given?  i wish it was called anything but blog...and tweet, what kind of a word is that?  are all the good words gone?  Why can't the tech people come up with words that have more beauty or meaning to them?  why can't we reuse words that doesn't get used any more like, "Hither" or "Thoust" when we create new software and technology?  why do all new-tech words have to make us sound stupider when we say them?)

anyway. here is the best homemade brownie recipe that i have ever made:

1/3    cup Dutch-processed cocoa
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso (optional)
1/2    cup plus 2 Tablespoons boiling water
2       ounces unsweetend chocolate, finely chopped
4       Tablespoons (1/2 stick) unsalted butter, melted
1/2    cup plus 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil
2       large eggs
2       egg yolks
2       teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups sugar
1 3/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
3/4    teaspoons table salt
6       ounces bittersweet chocolate cut into 1/2 inch pieces

1.  Adjust oven rack to lowest position and heat oven to 350 degrees.  Make foil sling:  cut 18 inch length of foil and fold lengthwise to 8 inch width.  fit foil into lenth of 13 X 9 inch baking pan, pusing it into corners and up side of pan; allow excess to overhang pan edges.  Cut 14 inch length foil and fit into width of pan in the same manner, perpendicular to the first sheet (it may overhang edges also).  Spray with nonstick cooking spray.

2.  Whisk cocoa, espresso powder (if using) and boiling water together in large bowl until smooth.  Add unsweetened chocolate and whisk until chocolate is melted.  Whisk in melted butter and oil.  (mixture may look curdled.)  Add eggs, yolks, and vanilla and continue to whisk until smooth and homogeneous.  Whisk in sugar until fully incorporated.  Add flour and salt and mix with rubber spatula until combined.  Fold in bitersweet chocolate pieces.

3.  Scrape batter into prepared pan and bake until toothpick inserted halfway between edge and center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached, 30 to 35 minutes.  Transfer pan to wire rack and cool 1 1/2 hours.  (unless you are using a glass pan - then you cool for only 10 minutes before removing from pan - so they don't overbake)

4.  Using foil overhang, lift brownies from pan.  Return brownies to wire rack and let cool completely, about 1 hour.  Cut into 2-inch squares and serve.  (apparently allowing the brownies to thoroughly cool before cutting, allows them to have the chewiest texture.  i found that it was worth the wait.)