100 Hour Brownies

Packed with chocolate, chocolate and more chocolate, these brownies are unbelievably fudgy and decadent.

If you’re a food dork like me, you probably spend a fair amount of time watching cooking shows on You Tube. One of the recipes that keeps popping up in my feed is this recipe for 100 Hour Fudgy Brownies, courtesy of Alvin Zhou. My initial thought was to say, “But why?”, a la Ryan Reynolds. I mean, I make a mean brownie, and they certainly don’t take 100 hours. I can bang them out start to finish in less than an hour and they’re perfect. But every single time I clicked on You Tube, there they were, demanding I give them a try. So, I went for it. And holy crap…I’ll never think of brownies the same way again.

These are not like any other brownies you’ve ever had before. Stick with me here, because what I’m about to say will leave you scratching your head at first. Did you ever make oobleck as a kid? It’s that cornstarch mess that is both a liquid and a solid at the same time. I swear, that’s what happens with these brownies!!! After they’re baked, they set up beautifully and they hold their shape like a solid, but once you warm them up (and you have to warm them up before you eat them), I swear they turn to this molten block of warm, gooey fudge…they are incredible!

And there’s soooooooo muuuuuuuuch chocolate in them. I almost can’t believe I’m saying this, but it would be a crime to top them with vanilla ice cream. Honestly, if I had to pick one dessert to have for the rest of my life, it would be a brownie sundae, but ice cream would be lost on these babies.

It’s kind of strange recipe, 100 hours aside, because these brownies also take a short trip to the freezer at one point, and a much longer trip to the fridge for their multiple rest times…all of which, according to Mr. Zhou, affect the general fudge factor. Got to say, he’s definitely on to something! The only thing I changed from his original recipe is I cut back some on the espresso powder, and I used whatever chocolate I had lying around. I may have even raided my daughter’s Halloween stash for the milk chocolate…just don’t tell her I said that!

100 Hour Brownies

4.60 from 5 votes

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Prep Time 4 days d

Cook Time 35 minutes mins

Course Dessert

Servings 12

Ingredients

  

• 2 sticks unsalted butter
• 1 ice cube
• 4 eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 cup dutch-processed cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1 tablespoon kosher salt
• 8 ounces 75% cacao chocolate melted
• 1 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3.5 ounces milk chocolate chopped
• 3.5 ounces 75% cacao chocolate chopped
• 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips

Instructions

 

• In a large pan, begin melting butter, stirring constantly. Keep stirring over medium-low heat until butter begins to smell nutty and has started to turn a golden brown color, about five minutes. Remove from heat, add in the ice cube and set aside.
• In a large mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, vanilla and sugar until thick and a pale yellow color. Sift in the cocoa powder, espresso powder and salt and mix until well blended. Add in the browned butter and hen the melted chocolate, mixing well after each addition. Sift in the flour and mix well.
• In a bowl, combine the 3.5 ounces chopped milk chocolate, 3.5 ounces chopped 75% cacao chocolate and 6 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips. Fold HALF of the chocolate into the brownie batter, reserving the remaining chocolate.
• Line an 8×11 pyrex pan (can also use a 9×13 pan, adjusting the bake time to 30 minutes) with parchment paper. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. it will be VERY thick. Scatter remaining chocolate over the top of the batter and cover tightly with plastic wrap. Set in fridge for three days.
• On the third day, preheat oven to 350 degrees. Remove pan from fridge and remove plastic wrap. Bake at 350 for 35 minutes (30 if using 9×13 pan).
• After baking, remove pan from the oven and immediately top with aluminum foil. Place pan in the freezer for 30 minutes.
• After 30 minutes, transfer pan to fridge for 24 hours.
• When ready to serve, remove pan from fridge, remove brownies from pan and slice into 12 portions. To eat, warm each slice in the microwave for about 20 seconds or warm in a 350 oven for a couple of minutes. Eat, blissfully, with a large, cold glass of milk!