Brownies

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a large bowl, whisk together the baking cocoa and baking soda. Stir in 1/3 cup of the melted butter. Add the boiling water and stir the mixture until it's well blended. Stir in the granulated sugar, room-temperature eggs, the remaining 1/3 cup melted butter and vanilla extract. In a separate bowl, whisk together the all-purpose flour and salt, then stir the flour mixture into the cocoa mixture until they're well combined.

Fold in the pecans and chocolate chunks. Editor’s Tip: Be sure not to overwork the batter, or you’ll develop the gluten, which can cause the brownies to be dense.

Pour the brownie batter into a greased 13x9-inch baking pan, spreading out the batter as needed to evenly reach all four corners. Editor’s Tip: You can line your pan with parchment paper instead, so after baking and cooling, you can easily lift the brownies out of the pan, if desired.

Bake the brownies until they begin to pull away from the sides of the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Carefully remove the pan from the oven and cool the brownies in the pan on a wire rack.