Raspberry Truffle Brownies

I think these are my favorite brownies. They are quite moist and fudgy, with a chewy crust, and are rich with chocolate, raspberry jam and black raspberry liqueur. I made them most recently for my friend Brenda’s birthday, and took the extras to work at the  newspaper on election night.

The hardest thing about these brownies is baking them just the right amount of time. But the result is worth checking their doneness every few minutes. And worth every calorie.
The recipe is from www.epicurious.com. My changes are in parentheses.

Raspberry Truffle Brownies

Nonstick vegetable oil spray
12 tablespoons. or 1 1/2 sticks, unsalted butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped*
3 large eggs
2 cups sugar*
1/3 cup (seedless) raspberry jam (sugar-free spread is fine)
3 tablespoons black raspberry or raspberry liqueur
1 cup all purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup (miniature) semisweet chocolate chips
Powdered sugar (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9-inch-diameter springform pan (or 9-inch-square cake pan) with nonstick spray. Melt butter and chocolate in large saucepan over low heat, stirring until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in the sugar, jam, liqueur and eggs. (The original recipe puts eggs first on the list, but I whisk them in last so that the mixture is cool enough that they don’t curdle). Stir in flour and salt, then chocolate chips. Transfer batter to prepared pan.
Bake brownie until tester (inserted 1 inch from center) comes out with moist crumbs attached, 35-45 minutes. (I start checking at 30. If it jiggles when you move pan, check again in 5 minutes.) Cool in pan on rack. Run small knife around edges of pan. Remove pan sides if in a springform pan. If desired, dust with powdered sugar. Cut into wedges or squares and serve. Store at room temperature in airtight container or wrapped in plastic or foil.
*Note: You can sub part of the unsweetened chocolate with bittersweet chocolate (up to half) and reduce the sugar by 1/3 to 1/2 cup.