Cakey Brownies

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and line the pan

   Set a rack in the center of the oven and heat it to 350°F (175°C). Grease a 9-inch square metal pan, then line it with a strip of parchment that runs up two opposite sides with a couple of inches hanging over. Those flaps are your handles later. Metal is worth seeking out here; glass holds heat longer and tends to overbake the edges before the middle sets.

2. 2

   Whisk the dry ingredients

   In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, sifted cocoa, baking powder, salt, and espresso powder until the color is completely even with no pale streaks. Sifting the cocoa matters more than it sounds. Cocoa clumps are stubborn, and chasing them later means overmixing the batter.

3. 3

   Cream the butter and sugars

   Beat the softened butter with both sugars on medium-high speed for a full 3 to 4 minutes, until the mixture turns noticeably paler and looks fluffy rather than grainy. This is the step that makes these cakey instead of dense, so don't cut it short. You're forcing air pockets into the fat, and the baking powder will expand them in the oven.

4. 4

   Add eggs and vanilla

   Drop in the eggs one at a time, beating about 30 seconds after each and scraping the bowl down between additions. Wait until each egg disappears before adding the next. Beat in the vanilla. The batter should look smooth and a little billowy. If it looks curdled, your eggs were too cold; keep beating and it will come back together.

5. 5

   Alternate dry ingredients and milk

   On low speed, add a third of the dry mixture, then half the milk, then another third of the dry, the rest of the milk, and finally the last of the dry. Starting and ending with flour keeps the batter from splitting. Stop the mixer while a few floury patches remain and finish by hand with a spatula. The batter will be thick and scoopable, closer to cake batter than brownie batter.

6. 6

   Fold in the chocolate

   Fold in the chocolate chips with just a few strokes, holding back a small handful to scatter over the top. Scrape the batter into the pan and smooth it level, pushing it well into the corners. Sprinkle the reserved chips over the surface.

7. 7

   Bake

   Bake for 30 to 35 minutes. You're looking for a top that springs back when you press it lightly and a skewer in the center that comes out with a few dry crumbs but no wet batter. Unlike fudgy brownies, these should bake all the way through, so a clean-ish skewer is the goal rather than a warning sign. The edges will just begin to pull away from the sides of the pan.

8. 8

   Cool and cut

   Cool in the pan on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes, then lift the whole slab out by the parchment and let it finish cooling on the rack. Cut into 16 squares with a long knife, wiping the blade between cuts. They slice most cleanly at room temperature, though warm with a scoop of ice cream is a fine excuse to skip the wait.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Softened butter should dent under your finger but still hold its shape, around 65°F. Too warm and it won't hold the air you beat into it, which flattens the crumb.

• 2.

  The espresso powder won't make these taste like coffee. It sharpens the cocoa and makes the chocolate read deeper and less sweet.

• 3.

  Dutch-process cocoa gives a darker color and smoother, mellower flavor; natural cocoa is fruitier and more acidic. Either works since baking powder is doing the lifting.

• 4.

  For an even taller, more delicate crumb, swap the all-purpose flour for 1 3/4 cups cake flour (193g).

• 5.

  Resist opening the oven before the 28-minute mark. These rely on trapped air and steam, and an early draft can settle the center.

• 6.

  A dusting of powdered sugar over the cooled slab is the traditional finish, but a thin chocolate glaze or cream cheese frosting both suit this cakey texture well.

Equipment

• 9-inch square metal baking pan
• Parchment paper
• Stand mixer or hand mixer
• Medium mixing bowl
• Rubber spatula
• Fine-mesh sieve
• Wire cooling rack

Storage