Brownies

Man, what a week!  Monday was super busy at work and on top of that, my computer was shut down by a virus (kind thanks to the girl who downloaded all that crap on my computer before me).  By the end of the day, I realized I just really needed brownie, and really, we all did.  So I went home, whipped up a batch, and brought them to work the next day.  Good thing I did, because every day this week has been crazy and those little squares of decadent chocolate heaven really help a girl through the afternoon.  My apologies for not having a picture, but I got them finished right before bed time and have left them at work.  But I trust you all know what a brownie looks like: square, brown, crispy flaky top. 

Brownies
(original recipe here) 

• 9 oz bittersweet chocolate (I didn't have enough so I used 6 oz bittersweet, 3 oz semi-sweet)
• 1 cup butter, cut into chunks
• 1 1/2 cup sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1 cup flour

Preheat oven to 325F.  Line a baking dish with foil and grease generously.  

In a double boiler (or a heat safe bowl over a large pot) melt the chocolate and butter just until melted.  Don't let it go too long or it will separate and get funky.  whisk in the sugar.  It will be grainy and that is okay.  

Remove from the heat and whisk in eggs one at a time.  Whisk in vanilla extract.


Finally, whisk in flour and salt until just combined.   Pour into prepared pan and bake for 20-22 minutes.  (Mine took 35 minutes, but I also used a smaller pan to get thicker brownies.)


Enjoy!

Cheesecake Brownies

It's always fun to make dessert for people, and so gratifying as well. My general plan when invited to someone's home for dinner is to bring dessert. I love the challenge of deciding what treats people will enjoy, what their tastes are. The past few times we've had dinner at hubby's mother's house, I've received mixed results. MiL usually enjoys it, while I don't think my sister-in-law does. Luckily, these cheesecake brownies went over well with everyone (even hubby). I had originally planned to make the Cinnamon Cheesecake Blondies I made oh so long ago, but when hubby plaintively requested them with no cinnamon, I decided to change direction a bit. A cheesecake blondie doesn't sound nearly as good as a cheesecake brownie. I've made Cookies & Cream Brownies before, which are nearly the same (plus the addition of smashed up oreos) but I thought I'd go for something simpler. And I didn't have any oreos. Being lazy, I found a recipe online that had ingredients in my pantry. It was a bit of a challenge as I'm out of bakers' chocolate, but I found this one that only calls for cocoa powder. Yay!


Cheesecake Brownies
(original recipe)
brownie

• 1 cup butter
• 2 cups sugar
• 4 eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 cup all purpose flour
• ½ cup cocoa
• ½ tsp salt

cheesecake

• 8 oz (1 package) cream cheese, softened
• between 1/4 and 1/3 cup sugar, depending on how sweet you'd like it
  
• 1 egg

Preheat oven to 350F and grease an 8x8 baking pan.

In a small saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Once the butter is fully melted, remove from the heat and add the sugar, vanilla, and eggs. It helps if you've combined these ingredients already and pour the butter into them. Blend together.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cocoa, and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet and mix well. Pour into the prepared pan.

Next, prepare the cheesecake layer. Beat the cream cheese and sugar together, then add the egg and beat until creamy. Drop dollops on top of the brownie batter, then swirl using a knife.

Bake 50-65 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Double Chocolate Brownies

The other day, my supervisor and I had a discussion about brownies. We talk about food and share recipes often, and she's the one who introduced me to Nigella Lawson. So, it surprised me a bit that we were both talking fondly of boxed brownie mixes. But, in my short 22 years of life, I have yet to have a brownie so delicious as the Hershey's brownies. So, I've started yet another food quest for brownies better than those.

I have a few brownie recipes bookmarked, and thought I'd start with something simple which I was guaranteed to have all the ingredients in my pantry. So, this recipe won out. I believe it's a Martha Stewart recipe. The brownies are very chocolately without being overwhelming. They're dense and cakey. While not being the classic fudgey, gooey brownies, these would be absolutely amazing cut up into little cubes and mixed with vanilla ice cream. I wish I had some vanilla ice cream.


Double Chocolate Brownies

• 6 tbsp butter, coarsely chopped
• 6 oz semi-sweet chocolate, coarsely chopped (I used 4 oz semisweet, 2 oz bittersweet)
• 1/4 cup cocoa powder
• 3/4 cup flour
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350F. Prepare an 8x8 baking dish. The recipe calls for you to butter the pan, line it with parchment paper, then butter the parchment paper. I skipped the paper and just sprayed the dish with a cooking spray. *

Melt together the butter, chocolate, and cocoa powder. You can choose to do this over a double-boiler or in the microwave. I always opt for the microwave. If microwaving, just heat it up in 30 second increments, stirring after each session. Let cook slightly.

In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, and salt. Set aside.

Using a mixer if you have one, beat together sugar, eggs, and vanilla until light and fluffy. This will take approximately 4 minutes. Add the chocolate and mix until combined. Lower the speed and beat in the flour mixture.

Pour mixture into prepped pan and spread evenly. Bake approximately 35 minutes. Cool completely.

* A note on prepping the pan: The purpose of the parchment paper is to allow for easy removal of the brownies from the pan. This comes in handy if you'd like to cut up the brownies before serving them. it makes for easier and nicer squares. But I'm bringing these brownies to work, so keeping them in the pan is handy in a couple of ways. First off, my pan has a lid, which makes transportation very easy. Also, everyone's going to make a different size brownie, so I like to let them cut whatever size they want. If I were having a party, I'd go for the easy removal method.

Fudge Drops

Oh. My. Goodness. These cookies are uh-maze-zing! AMAZING! And of course, this recipe made the fewest batches. Sadness for me. But oh so good in my tummy. They were tasty tasty like brownie heaven.

This recipe comes from the King Arthur flour site, so sshhh don't tell them I didn't use their flour. It just wasn't what I had around the house. I made the recipe plain - no chocolate chips or chunks or ganache - and they were amazing, but any of those additions would work well.


Fudge Drops
8 oz bittersweet chocolate
3 tbsp butter
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp espresso powder (I omitted this)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup (6 oz) chocolate chips, optional (I opted out)

In a double boiler, or in the microwave, gently melt together the chocolate and butter. To avoid heating the chocolate too much and possibly burning it, the best method is to heat till the butter is melted and the chocolate has partially melted, then remove from the heat. Stir till all the chocolate melts.

In a separate bowl, beat together the sugar and eggs till they're thoroughly combined. Add the hot melted chocolate, then stir in the remaining ingredients, including the chocolate chips, if you're using them. Refrigerate the batter-like dough for 1 hour, to make it easier to handle.

Preheat the oven to 325°F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment) two baking sheets, three if you have them.

Drop the cookie dough by tablespoonfuls (about the size of a small ping pong ball) onto the prepared baking sheets. A tablespoon cookie scoop makes this task extremely simple. Leave about 2" between the dough balls, as they'll spread as they bake.

Bake the cookies for 11 to 12 minutes, until their tops are shiny and cracked. They won't crack until the very end, so keep a close eye on them; when they're cracked all the way across the top surface, they're just about done. The point is, you want these baked all the way through, but just barely; additional baking will make them crisp rather than chewy. Remove the cookies from the oven, and top each with a kiss-shaped chocolate, a nonpareil, or a bittersweet chocolate wafer, if desired. Wait 5 minutes, then transfer them to a rack to cool.

Cookies & Cream Brownies

For today's work treat, I decided to pull out an old recipe from my first days of really getting into baking. My grandma had given my mom these amazing Taste of Home cookbooks and I LOVED them. This recipe comes from one of the books, I'm sorry I don't have specific information - I'll try to find it.

By the way, these were absolutely devoured in the first two hours of my shift.


Cookies & Cream Brownies:
Cream layer
1 pkg (8oz) cream cheese, softened
¼ cup sugar
1 egg
½ tsp vanilla extract
Brownie layer
½ cup butter or margarine, melted
½ cup sugar
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup baking cocoa
2 eggs
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp vanilla extract
12-18 oreos, crushed (I use "Double Stuf")

In a small mixing bowl, beat cream cheese, sugar, egg, and vanilla until smooth; set aside.
For brownie layer, combine butter, sugars, and cocoa in a large mixing bowl; blend well. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
Combine flour and baking powder; stir into coca mixture. Stir in the vanilla and cookie crumbs.
Pour into a greased 11 x 7 x 2 baking pan. Spoon cream cheese mixture over batter; cut through batter with a knife to swirl.
Bake at 350º for 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs. Cool completely.

Brownie Disappointment

So yesterday was iffy and I really wanted to bake something. Something chocolatey. My first choice - a marbled pound cake - required more time than I had before I had to return to work, so I decided on brownies. Yes, I made brownies a few days ago for Amanda's birthday. And at that point, I wasn't fully satisfied with them. I wanted a brownier brownie. And so I attempted the Katherine Hepburn Brownies.


I'm not posting the recipe myself. You can follow the link. They are waaaay too sweet and chocolatey. I know, I know. Brownies are meant to be sweet and chocolatey, but not this much. They caused my face to scrunch. I like the idea; the chocolate chunks melted into gooey bits of wonderful (see above picture), but the entire thing just was too much. Sad times, right?

In other news, I've finally gotten up-to-date on TasteSpotting. YAY!

Belgian Raspberry Brownies with Truffle Ganache

I love this picture. It's pretty. ... Moving on. Amanda sent me this recipe a week or so again, and I decided to make these brownies for her birthday. Sadly, a car snafu has prevented her from picking up her delicious birthday present, but that's okay; her birthday isn't for another 45 minutes. As a responsible chef, I have tasted the end product, and I can verify that they are pretty tasty. Hubby and I each have our own issues with them: I feel the brownies are a bit too dry, and hubby feels they are a bit too bitter, at least the chocolate aftertaste is. That's not to say we didn't both heartily enjoy our little brownies. We did. Hopefully, Amanda does too.

Belgian Truffle Brownies with Truffle Ganache

1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup raspberry beer - I couldn't find any, so I used Leinenliugel's Berry Weiss.
1/4 cup seedless raspberry preserves - again, I could not find this so I used seedless raspberry jam. I felt the seedlessness was important
5 oz coarsely chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 cup flour
1/3 cup Hershey Special Dark Cocoa Powder
1/4 tsp salt
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
Ganache:
1 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tbsp heavy cream
5 oz coarsely chopped dark chocolate truffles - Lindt

Preheat the oven to 375F. Line an 8x11 baking dish with foil and coat with cooking spray.
Melt 1/2 cup butter in a small saucepan over medium heat; stir in beer and preserves. When the mixture starts to boil, turn off the heat and stir in the bittersweet chocolate until it is melted and well combined. Set aside.
In a medium bowl, sift the flour, cocoa powder, and salt.
In a large bowl, beat the sugars, eggs, and vanilla extract on high for 3 minutes. Reduce the speed to low and beat in the warm chocolate mixture until they are well combined. Stir in the flour mixture until just combined.
Pour batter into a pan; spread even. Bake at 375F for 20-25 minutes or until set (toothpick comes out clean). Gently place the baking dish into a larger dish filled with ice water. Let sit until the brownies are cool. (I thought this was odd, but whatever. It did quickly cool the brownies).
On medium heat, melt 1 tbsp butter. Stir in the cream. When the mixture starts to bubble, reduce the heat to low. Stir in the truffles until they are melted and smooth. Pour over brownies; smooth evenly across. Place brownies in the freezer for 15 minutes, or until the ganache is set.
Lift out the foil (and brownies). Slice into bars; they will slice very easily.
I topped each brownie with a raspberry.

So here we are. Tasty brownies. OH! During the baking of these brownies, I discovered the first beer I can tolerate drinking! The Berry Weiss was pretty tasty as far as beer goes.