Photo by Alexandra Stafford, friend and collaborator — AlexandraCooks.com

Photo by Alexandra Stafford, friend and collaborator — AlexandraCooks.com

SUNGOLD WHOLE GRAIN SPELT BROWNIES

Adapted by Liza Lowery from Alexandra Stafford’s Best-Ever Fudgy Homemade Brownie Recipe

The natural sweetness of the spelt flour complements the bitter notes of chocolate in these brownies, chewy around the edge and fudgy in the middle.

NOTE: Lining the pan with parchment paper will allow you to cut the brownies easily by removing the entire square of brownies. Let the paper hang over the edge of the pan by five inches on each side so it will curl down and not blow up over the surface of the brownies. Anodized aluminum pans make the best brownies (a tip from Stella Parks).

INGREDIENTS

  • 70 grams (3/4 cup) Dutch process cocoa powder (eg. Droste’s)

  • 62 grams (2/3 cups, plus 2 teaspoons) Sungold Spelt flour    

  • 2 grams (½ teaspoon) baking powder

  • 3 grams (½ teaspoon) fine sea salt

  • 227 grams (1 cup) butter, plus more for the pan

  • 400 grams (2 cups) granulated sugar

  • 3 large cold eggs

  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees and position the rack in the center of the oven. Butter a 9-inch square baking pan.

  2. Sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt together. (This prevents a lumpy batter.) Set aside.

  3. Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Remove from heat. Add the sugar and whisk until well combined and slightly thickened. Beat in one cold egg at a time, whisking until each egg is combined before adding the next. Whisk in the vanilla.

  4. Add the cocoa-flour mixture to the butter-sugar mixture and vigorously stir with a wooden spoon (reserved for sweets, not onions!) until the batter is smooth.

  5. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and bake for 35-40 minutes or until the brownies begin to leave the sides and a toothpick comes out clean. If you like a fudgier brownie, remove from oven when a few crumbs cling to the toothpick.

  6. Place the pan on a cooling rack. Let cool completely before removing the brownies from the pan and cutting. These keep for several days and freeze very well when wrapped in waxed paper or cling wrap and then wrapped again in foil and placed in a Ziplock bag.