Photo by Gwénaël Le Vot
Makes 8
½ cup unsalted butter
½ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
Pinch kosher salt
Chocolate ice cream
White chocolate, melted
Chopped pecans for garnish
Heat oven to 325 F. In a saucepan over medium heat, melt butter with cocoa, and stir until smooth. Remove from heat, and allow to cool slightly; transfer to a large bowl. Whisk in eggs, one at a time. Stir in vanilla.
In a separate bowl, combine sugar, flour, 1 cup chopped pecans and salt. Add to butter-and-cocoa mixture; stir until just combined. Pour into a greased 8-inch-by-8-inch square pan. Bake 30–35 minutes. Do not overbake; brownies should be gooey. Let cool; cut into desired shape and size with round or square biscuit cutter.
Remove ice cream from freezer, and let sit 10–15 minutes to soften slightly. Tear off sides of ice cream container, and turn out ice cream onto clean cutting board. Cut into 1-inch slices. Cut out ice cream shapes with same cutter used to cut brownies. Place slices on parchment-lined baking sheet, and return to freezer until they harden (about 30 minutes). To serve, place brownie on plate, stack ice cream slice on top, drizzle with melted white chocolate, and sprinkle with chopped pecans.