Giant Warm Brownie Bowl

How we make it.

*serves 6*

Katharine Hepburn's Brownies

½ cup butter (1 stick), melted
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
½ teaspoon vanilla
1 cup sugar
¼ cup flour
¼ teaspoon kosher salt

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Butter and flour an 8 inch by 8 inch baking dish and set aside. In a small saucepan melt butter and stir in cocoa powder. Let cool. In a medium bowl beat together eggs, vanilla and sugar. Add butter and cocoa, stirring to combine. Stir in flour and salt. Pour into baking dish and bake for 30-35 minutes. Cut into four large squares then while warm pile them up in a shallow bowl or on a plate and top with:

Lots of vanilla ice cream
Fresh Whipped Cream (recipe below)
Mocha Chocolate Sauce (recipe below)
Mini chocolate chips

Fresh Whipped Cream

1 pint heavy cream
3 tablespoons sugar

Pour cold cream into large bowl and whip with a hand mixer or standing mixer to desired thickness. Add sugar and whip some more to combine. Store in the fridge but best served the same day you make it.

Mocha Chocolate Sauce

1 cup water
½ cup agave
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 tablespoon butter
1 teaspoon espresso powder
Pinch of kosher salt

In a medium saucepan over medium heat combine water, sugar, agave and cocoa powder. Bring to a boil and stir until sugar is dissolved. Turn off heat, pour in chocolate chips, stirring until chocolate is melted. Add butter, salt and espresso powder and stir to glossy smooth. Set aside or refrigerate and sauce will thicken as it cools.

Why we make it.

I started this whole adventure of recipe and storytelling with Nana, my mom's mother. She taught me to cook and was the love of my life. But I had another grandmother, as one does. If Nana was the love of my life, Mimi was the life of my love. Which is to say, the person whose spirit animates me most. She was sick my whole childhood, which is such a damn shame because we would have had an absolute ball together. She was decisive. Sparkly. Loved parties. And had a quip for everything. I use her dishes. Her house was magic. A crystal peacock lamp in her foyer and a brass fish that spit water in her sunroom. A drum set and French antiques. Her bath towels were bright yellow. The whole place smelled like warm powder. I loved it there. She'd let me play in her make-up then take me to the kitchen for a bowl of cheese balls. I remember eating with her at Austin's, an old local favorite that used to serve salads and desserts in these giant white porcelain bowls. We must have gotten this brownie bowl together there more than once because I remember expecting it. And I remember loving her for wanting something so decadent and insane. No one else in my family would have. I was so glad for the company. Joie de vivre. That's what she had and that's what she gave to me. I made this giant brownie bowl to thrill a crowd the way it always thrilled me. It's magic. Full of awesome textures and temperatures. Totally unnecessary and insane. I hope somewhere Mimi thinks that's great. She was where the fun came from. I'll never stop looking for that. That's why I’ve made it.