These brownies are quick to make and require very little in the way of equipment. (No mixer!) Plus they're dark enough to satisfy the most serious chocolate craving. Any type of cocoa powder will work—either natural or Dutch process. The latter will give you darker brownies. My cocoa powder of choice is Valrhona.

from Cocoa Brownies recipe in Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy by Alice Medrich

Ingredients
11 tablespoons (5.5 oz) unsalted butter [or Earth Balance]
1 1/4 cups (8.75 oz) granulated sugar
1 scant cup (3 oz) unsweetened cocoa powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 large eggs, cold
1/3 cup plus 1 tablespoon (1.75 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour

Directions
Preheat oven to  325°F. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven. Line bottom and sides of an 8-inch square pan with foil. (There's no need to grease the foil.)

Melt the butter in a medium heatproof bowl set directly in a wide skillet of barely simmering water.

Add the sugar, cocoa, and salt. Stir with a spatula until ingredients are blended and the mixture is hot. Remove the bowl from the skillet and set aside briefly until the mixture is warm (not hot). Mix in the vanilla. Add the eggs, one at a time, mixing vigorously with a spatula after each addition.

When the mixture looks thick and glossy, add all the flour at once and stir until you cannot see any streaks. Then mix vigorously for 40 strokes. Spread evenly in the lined pan.

Bake 20-25 minutes, until a toothpick plunged into the center emerges slightly dirty looking. (Note: This, to me, is the trickiest thing about baking brownies. When you're baking a cake, you want the toothpick to come out clean. But brownies baked to that level of doneness will be too dry. You want these to be set but still moist in the middle.) Cool on a rack. Lift the edges of the foil liner and transfer the brownies to a cutting board. Cut into 16 or 25 squares. Store in an airtight container for 3 to 5 days. If they last that long.