Sea Salt Cocoa Brownies

I knew when it came to Love Day, I had to make brownies. Fudgy, dense, chocolatey brownies. I've tackled gluten free blondies, but when it came to normal brownies, the GF mixes out there are pretty spot on.

Since the new year, I've tried to cut back on sweets. A ridiculous attempt but I'm trying to be good. Then, a few weeks ago, I started craving brownies. So I made a couple mug brownies, but they are more cake-like than fudge-like.

At our weekly dinner with my parental unit, I knew the time had come. Plus with Love Day on Friday, it was the perfect opportunity to get a little festive up in here. These are delicious so do yourself a favor and make these as soon as possible.

Sea Salt Cocoa Brownies

Inspired by Inspired Taste's Fudgy Brownies 

10 tablespoons of butter

1 cup of sugar

3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons of cocoa powder

1/4 teaspoon of sea salt

1 teaspoon of vanilla

2 large eggs

1/2 cup gluten free all-purpose flour

1 cup white chocolate chips (optional)

Preheat the oven to 325 and place an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Because I still don't have a 8x8 square pan, I used a pie pan. Line it with parchment paper. Melt the butter in the microwave. Add in the sugar, cocoa, and sea salt and mix well. Do this quickly while the butter is still warm. Stir in the vanilla, and then mix in the eggs one at a time. Mix in the flour, stirring quickly to incorporate the flour. Keep stirring - the batter will smooth out. Add the white chocolate chips if you wish, giving the brownie batter one last stir. The batter will be thick. Pour the batter into the pan and smooth. Sprinkle the top with sea salt before putting the brownies into the oven.

Bake for about 40 minutes. [I started at 20 minutes like the original recipe, but for whatever reason, I needed double the time to set the middle.] When a toothpick comes out clean, the brownies are done! Let cool on wire cooling rack.

You can stop here or add some festive decorations. Simply sprinkle the top of the brownies with powdered sugar. Using a heart-shaped cookie cutter, shake red sugar sprinkles to create hearts. Serve with milk or event better, ice cream!

These completely hit the spot. The dark chocolate mixed with hints of sea salt. I die. And how cute would these be in a single serving with a sprinkle heart on top?! 

A messy kitchen but a happy girl, baking the world a better place, one brownie at a time.

xoxo,

Alex