Better Than Brad Pitt Brownies

I first encountered these brownies in Washington state while I was avisiting.  They actually didn't impress me very much and I wasn't too excited to get a printout of the recipe but they gave one to everyone and I felt inclined to keep it, just in case.  After all, a good housewife never knows when she might need an additional recipe for brownies.

So the recipe has been floating around my kitchen for the last 6 months and I finally decided to try them out.  They seemed to be almost identical to my flourless chocolate birthday cake and that turned out pretty scrumptious so I was hopeful of a desirable product.

I had to melt a lot of chocolate, so I melted it on the stove top in a skillet of almost boiling water (you put the bowl of chocolate in the skillet.

Here is the dough at the very end when I added the chocolate chips.  I did not add the walnuts because I wasn't sure of the allergies of the group that would be consuming these brownies.  But now that I've eaten them I don't think I will ever add the walnuts.  The consistency isn't exactly meant for something hard and crunchy...it's more a melt-in-your-mouth experience.

It was very difficult to tell whether these were done or not; in fact, I think they could have been cooked a little longer.  They were still good though even if they were a little soft.

I originally made these brownies for my husband to take to class, so I didn't want them to have to deal with cutting up brownies and making a mess in the classroom.  I used cupcake papers to make individual pieces.  And that 9 X 13 pan made enough brownies for me to give to my husband's class, my workplace, our apartment complex office, and my own class.  Everybody got a piece of these.  Next time I might just halve the recipe.  

One consumer said that these were the best brownies she had ever had.  Another said I was the spawn of the devil (or something to that effect) for bringing in something so decadent.  They were better than the first time I had them.  That could be because I needed to get used to them first (I have done this with many foods: most importantly onions, blueberries, caramel pudding, and anything Norwegian).