Brownies + Tart = Townies.  If math was like this in school, I might not have struggled with it so much.  But continuing on the food/math analogy, if there were Laws of Food thermodynamics one would certainly be 1 delicious sweet thing + 1 delicious sweet thing > the sum of their parts. I guess this would also make The Joy of Cooking my Principia. Numbers don’t lie, and when you combine a dark chocolate shortbread crust with gooey brown butter brownies on top, you get something beyond a brownie and beyond a chocolate tart.  You get the chocolate singularity.

Warm, gooey, rich, tender, crumbly, glass of milk inducing wonderfulness. Yep. Go make some.  You might not improve your algebra skills, but I’ll still consider you a gentleman and a scholar. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS (CRUST)

2 cups flour

8 ounces butter, room temp

1/2 cup powdered sugar

1/4 cup cocoa powder

1/4 cup grated dark chocolate

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

INGREDIENTS (BROWNIES)

1 cup flour

1/2 teaspoon sea salt

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

I used Valrhona

3 1/2 ounces semi sweet chocolate

8 tablespoons of butter, browned

1/2 cup coffee, room temp

4 eggs, at room temp

1 cup white sugar

1 cup brown sugar, packed

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 350F

For the crust, mix together the ingredients until it forms a dough. With your hands, spread the dough on the bottom of a greased 9 x 13″ baking dish and pat down so it’s evenly distributed. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes, until firm.  Set aside for immediate use.

While the crust is baking, get started on the brownie part of the dish. Sift together the flour, salt, and cocoa powder. Meanwhile, melt the chocolate in a bowl over boiling water.  In a small pan over medium heat, melt the butter until it just turns golden brown.  Pour the brown butter into a bowl, scraping the pan to get the brown bits (this prevents it from overcooking).  Add the coffee to the bowl of melted chocolate and brown butter. Beat together the eggs and sugar until thick and shiny (2 minutes). Continue beating on low while adding flour mixture and wet ingredients alternatively. Finish with the vanilla. Do not over mix. Fold in the chips. Pour over the still warm crust. Bake for 45 minutes. Cool completely before cutting.