The Russian Judge Gives Extra Points For These…

_ _The first apartment that I leased with my friends in college was absolutely terrifying. Not only because we lived on a street of Boston bordering an area in which people regularly got shot, but because of the mouse-army that had formed in our walls, in the oven, inside our furniture… and under our beds. They became stronger and bolder by the day.* And so we drank. We drank to numb the fear that they would begin to nest in our hair as we slept.

_ _On one such night of debauchery, all of my roommates had gone to a party except for me. When they finally returned home, my blonde roommate (who shall remain nameless, but you know who you are) went to her bed and began to chorus my name in a monotone until I came in to help remove her knee-high boots and tuck her under the covers. Several minutes after I thought she was asleep, she wandered into the livingroom and began force-feeding my boyfriend-at-the-time the brownie chunks from a tub of ice cream; with every bite she reminded him that she was giving him the best part. I still give her kudos for being so generous.

_ _So what is the lesson of this rambling anecdote? Everyone loves chocolate. Especially in brownie form.

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*Sidenote: we also believed that they were increasing in intellect, for night after night the traps we laid out were cleaned of their cheese without being set off. We spent months trying to convince friends and family that we had hyper-intelligent, mutant rodents living among us… I love city living.

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Servings: 16

Note: As I discovered the hard way, at high altitude this recipe is a miserable failure… So I’m including high-altitude adjustments (HAA)

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Ingredients:

1 stick Butter

3 whole squares Baker’s Chocolate

2 cups Sugar (HAA: 1 3/4 cup Sugar)

1 tsp Vanilla Extract

4 whole Eggs

1 cup Flour

2 tbsp Cocoa Powder

1 cup Chocolate Chips

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Preheat oven to 350°F (HAA: 375°F)

1. Melt butter and baking squares in the microwave.

2. Cream together the butter and chocolate mixture with the sugar and vanilla. Beat chocolate mixture with sugar and vanilla until fluffy. Add in the eggs one at a time stirring by hand. Stir in the flour and cocoa powder powder also by hand and mix until just combined– you don’t want to overbeat the eggs because the cupcakes will end up over-puffed and then fall. Fold in the chocolate chips.

3. In a muffin tin, fill cupcake liners about 2/3 full of the batter. Bake 20-25 minutes. The top of the cupcake should be a little crunchy, but the inside will be rich and fudgy!
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