Alice Medrich’s Classic Fudge Brownies

8 tablespoons (1 stick) butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
1-1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup flour
2/3 cup chopped, toasted walnuts or pecans (optional)
2 eggs

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Prepare an 8-inch square metal baking pan. It is important in this recipe to only use metal. Line the pan with either aluminum foil or parchment paper so that it comes up all four sides.

Melt the butter together with the chocolate in the top of a double boiler or in a bowl placed above simmering (not boiling) water. Stir to smoothly integrated.
With a wooden spoon or heavy spatula, mix in the sugar, vanilla and salt. Add the eggs one at a time. Mix in the flour. Stir the mixture for at least a minute until the batter is smooth and begins to come away from the sides of the bowl.

Bake the brownies at 400degrees for 20 minutes or until the batter begins to come away from the sides of the pan.

While the brownies are baking, prepare an ice bath for cooling. Using a roaster pan or a larger baking pan, fill it with cold water and ice cubes. When you remove the brownies from the oven, cool the pan completely in the ice bath. Be careful to not get water on the brownies. (If you had used a pyrex pan, the glass would break at this point and your brownies would be ruined.)

Cut the brownies into 16 squares