The Best Brownies EVER - Brown Butter Dark Chocolate Rolo Brownies

So we've all seen on pinterest the numerous brownie recipes titled "the best" and I've tried many of them. But these, my friends, are THE BEST. The recipe is very unique, browning the butter until you see little red flecks. I didn't even know butter could do that. 

This is actually the third time I've made these brownies since June and I don't usually repeat a recipe that often. They are just that good. My quest for the perfect homemade version of boxed brownies is satisfyingly complete. And they are even better than boxed brownies. I've made these with regular cocoa but they are so much better with dark chocolate cocoa, its ridiculous.

And then this time I added rolos to the batter, because I was planning to make these salted caramel brownie bites. But the brownies were so roll your eyes GOOD that we ate them all before I could make them! 

The Best Brownies EVER - Brown Butter Dark Chocolate Rolo Brownies
Adapted from: Style Me Pretty
Yield: 12 brownies

10 tablespoons unsalted butter

1¼ cups pure cane sugar

¾ cup natural unsweetened cocoa powder (I like to use dark chocolate cocoa powder)

½ teaspoon fine-grain sea salt

¼ teaspoon baking powder

2 cold large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

⅔ cup all purpose flour

1/3 cup (overflowing) semi-sweet or dark chocolate chips or chocolate chunks

16 Rolos (milk chocolate caramel candy), optional

Directions

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F placing your rack in the lower third of the oven. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.

To brown your butter, melt the butter in a large saucepan over medium low heat. Continue to cook the butter, while stirring constantly with a whisk or rubber spatula. Be careful not to let the butter come to a boil. After about 5 minutes, you should notice the butter foaming a bit and starting to turn a deep golden color. Keep stirring for another 3-5 minutes until the tiny reddish specks appear and your butter smells nutty and delish.

Remove your pan from heat and gradually stir in the sugar until incorporated. Next, stir in the cocoa powder, salt and baking powder until completely blended,. Let this mixture cool for 10 minutes. **Very important to remove mixture from heat source and let cool for 10 minutes

Add one of the eggs, stirring the mixture vigorously. Once incorporated fully, add the second egg, again stirring vigorously. The mixture should thicken a bit and have a glossy texture, but shouldn't separate or become difficult to stir. Add in the vanilla extract and the flour, stirring until combined. Now, beat them brownies! Stir vigorously for about 1 minute.

Fold in the chocolate chips or walnuts or Rolos or whatever else you can dream up. Traditionalists...stick to chocolate chips/chunks and you can't go wrong.

Pour batter in the lined pan. Bake on the lower rack for about 25-30 minutes. The edges will begin to pull away from the sides and the top will appear dry and set up. Once the brownies are completely cool, dig in. And maybe scoop some vanilla ice cream on top. They taste even better the next day!