My Favorite Dessert: Ina's Brownie Pudding

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• This recipe might just be my favorite dessert of all time.  I cannot take credit for this one.  This is an Ina Garten masterpiece.  I did tweak this recipe a tad, because let's be honest, sometimes Ina's ingredients are simply too fancy, expensive, and hard to find.  
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• This is a perfect mix between a molten chocolate cake, a brownie, and a souffle.  If you love chocolate, this is to die for.  It is very rich and decadent, so you don't need a ton of it, but it might be one of your favorite dessert bites of all time too.  I pair it with fresh vanilla whipped cream or vanilla ice-cream.  I feel it needs one or the other to help balance out the sweetness.  When baked, the top will have a hard crust that you can almost tap, but underneath that crunchy layer, is the most ooey-gooey-chocolately goodness.  
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• This is a true crowd pleaser.  Many times you are asked to bring dessert to a get together and so many people have so many different tastes, you just feel stumped on what to bring.  Yes, we can take a trip to Ralphs and grab a cake, but this takes no time at all.  I like to whip up the batter (probably takes 20 minutes from start to finish) and either bake it for an hour right then and there, or if I am going to someone's house, I pop it in the oven for an hour when we are eating dinner and it is ready!  This is easy, simple, and worth the small amount of effort.  
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• Get cooking!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 pound (2 sticks) unsalted butter, plus extra for buttering the dish
• 4 extra-large eggs, at room temperature
• 2 cups sugar
• 3/4 cup good cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• capful of vanilla extract
• Vanilla ice cream or fresh vanilla whipped cream, for serving

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. Lightly butter a 2-quart (9 by 12 by 2-inch) oval baking dish. Melt the 1/2 pound of butter and set aside to cool.

In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the eggs and sugar on medium-high speed for 5 to 10 minutes, until very thick and light yellow. Meanwhile, sift the cocoa powder and flour together and set aside.

When the egg and sugar mixture is ready, reduce the speed to low and add the vanilla and the cocoa powder and flour mixture. Mix only until combined. With mixer still on low, slowly pour in the cooled butter and mix again just until combined.

Pour the brownie mixture into the prepared dish and place it in a larger baking pan. Add enough of the hottest tap water to the pan to come halfway up the side of the dish and bake for exactly 1 hour. A cake tester inserted 2 inches from the side will come out 3/4 clean. The center will appear very under-baked; this dessert is between a brownie and a pudding.

Allow to cool and serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.