Fudgy brownies with a shiny crust

The shiny top is dissolved sugar, not an extra ingredient. Whisk the sugar into the warm chocolate and butter, then whisk the eggs hard for a minute until the batter turns glossy and leaves a ribbon. Skip that and the top bakes matte. It still tastes like chocolate. It just looks like a snack cake.

The flour is only 95 g, about 3/4 cup on the all-purpose flour chart. More flour is how fudgy brownies become cakey. Cocoa is 30 g, which is about 1/3 cup once it is sifted. Cocoa packs and clumps, so weigh it or use the cocoa powder conversion.

Chocolate and the bake

Use a bar you would eat, around 60 to 70 percent. Chocolate chips are made to hold their shape and they melt greasier. 200 g of chopped chocolate plus 170 g of butter (a stick and a half, see butter in grams) is the base. Melt them gently. If the chocolate seizes into a grainy lump, it got too hot or a drop of water landed in it. A teaspoon of boiling water and a stir can bring it back. A lot of water will not.

175°C for 26 to 30 minutes in a 20 cm square pan. The edges should be set and the center should still wobble slightly. A clean skewer means you baked a chocolate biscuit. Moist crumbs are the stop. Cool completely in the pan. Warm brownies smear when you cut them. A hot knife, wiped between cuts, gives clean squares once they are cool.

They keep, covered, for four days. The crumb gets fudgier on day two. Freeze the squares if you need them gone.