Salted Fudge Brownies

Welcome to my life these days, where the most exciting news is a 75% off pair of DKNY pajamas that I had been wanting since before Christmas and opening a Trader Joe's, Tuscon Moon Sangiovese.
Hey, what can I say, I like to live on the edge around here.
In all seriousness, I'm down to the last 8 weeks before my thesis. Balancing work and grad school is emotionally and physically draining, but God's grace is sufficient and I'm thankful for the time to work and get this finished.
Last night I made some homemade curry and Salted Fudge Brownies. Recently I've been craving anything with "salted" in the name...salted caramel hot chocolate, salted pecans on vanilla ice cream.

These take a while to cool, and they are most definitely a brownies, with a small hit of sea salt swirled on the top. It's a great contrast in brownies.

Salted Fudge Brownies from Bake or Break.com

• 1 & 1/2 sticks unsalted butter
• 2 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 cup + 2 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
• 2 cups granulated sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Preheat oven to 350°. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with aluminum foil, letting the excess hang over the edges. Lightly butter the foil.

Melt butter and chocolate on low heat on the stovetop in a saucepan or in the microwave in a microwave-safe bowl. Remove from heat or microwave. One at a time, whisk in cocoa, sugar, eggs, vanilla, and flour. Pour into prepared pan. Smooth the top of the batter. Sprinkle salt over top of batter. Using a butter knife, swirl salt into brownie batter.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until edges are set and center is a bit soft. A toothpick inserted in the center should come out with a little batter coating it.

Cool at room temperature for an hour. Then, cool in refrigerator for an hour or until firm. Remove from pan and foil. Serve at room temperature.

Brownies can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for a month.