AJ: here's the best brownie recipe, EVER, from Food Network's Alton Brown:
Ingredients
* Soft butter, for greasing the pan
* Flour, for dusting the buttered pan
* 4 large eggs
* 1 cup sugar, sifted
* 1 cup brown sugar, sifted - I substituted SPLENDA - brown sugar is hard to sift!
* 8 ounces melted butter - (2 sticks)
* 11/4 cups cocoa, sifted - I used Ghiradelli's UNSWEETENED COCOA
* 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
* 1/2 cup flour, sifted
* 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
Directions
Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square pan.In a mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, beat the eggs at medium speed until fluffy and light yellow. Add both sugars. Add remaining ingredients, and mix to combine. Pour the batter into a greased and floured 8-inch square pan and bake for 45 minutes. Check for doneness with the tried-and-true toothpick method: a toothpick inserted into the center of the pan should come out clean. When it's done, remove to a rack to cool. Resist the temptation to cut into it until it's mostly cool.
PS After I successfully made this recipe, I substituted one block of low-fat cream cheese for one of the sticks of butter. Viola! Chocolate cheesecake brownies. They were to die for! It is important to use UNSWEETENED Cocoa and to sift the dry ingredients.
