Preheat the oven to 350 F and line an 8x8 metal baking pan with parchment paper so the paper overhangs the sides for easy removal and slicing. Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter and chopped chocolate together over medium heat. Heat until just barely melted. Don’t overheat.

Remove from heat and add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla and mix until well combined. Add the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, and salt and mix until just combined with a wooden spoon or rubber spatula.

Pour into the prepared baking dish and bake for 20-23 minutes. A toothpick inserted should come out with a few moist crumbs.

Remove from the oven and let the brownies cool in the pan placed on a wire cooling rack.

Process the strawberries in a food processor until totally smooth.

Add the puree to a small saucepan and cook over medium-low heat until the strawberries are about the consistency of a thick jam. This will take about 15 minutes. If the strawberries splutter in the pan at all, lower the temperature.

Pour the strawberry puree into a medium mixing bowl and let cool completely.

Once cool, add the butter and whip together with a hand mixer until mixed together nicely. Add the powdered sugar and heavy cream and whip together again until smooth and creamy. It should be pretty thick, but spreadable still. If it’s too thick, add a tiny bit more cream. It it’s too thin, add a few more tablespoons of powdered sugar.

Spread over the cooled brownies, cover, and refrigerate for an hour or up to overnight.

Melt the chocolate chips in the microwave on 50% power in 30-second increments, stirring in between microwaving. Spread the melted chocolate over the brownies and let the chocolate harden but don’t put it in the fridge. Fridge-hardened chocolate is harder to cut nicely.

Once the chocolate is set, remove the brownies from the pan and cut into squares.