The Culinary Connoisseur
Brownie Bash
02
Jan
Jan
You never need a reason to try a yummy new recipe.
Anything! Why not brownies!
It is often thought that brownies are the lucky result of
a cook’s mistake. Rumor has it that the
cook in question left the baking powder out of her cake and it fell in. She didn’t want it to go to waste so she cut
squares of the flat cake and served it as a new delicacy. While it makes for an entertaining tale, it
can hardly be true as brownies are denser than a fallen cake and contain no
liquid other than eggs.
Basic brownie recipes don’t contain any leaveners like
baking powder or soda and they always call for the chocolate and butter or
margarine to be melted. The classic brownie consists of very few ingredients:
butter or margarine, sugar, chocolate, eggs, and flour. These ingredients result in a fudgy brownie which
purists habitually claim are the only authentic brownie. Melting the butter rather than creaming it
with sugar yields a denser, fudgier outcome.
Here are some of our favorites for you to try.
These brownies pack a real coffee punch! They contain
plenty of caffeine so you might want to enjoy them early in the day.
2 cups sugar
1 cup oil
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa
3 tablespoons very finely ground fresh coffee beans
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/4 cups flour
8 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
8 ounces whipped topping, thawed
3 tablespoons freshly brewed strong coffee
Chocolate coffee beans
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray 13×9 inch baking pan
with baking spray. Combine sugar, oil, cocoa, ground coffee, and salt in large
bowl. Mix until ingredients are blended. The texture will be grainy. Whisk in
eggs and vanilla. Fold in the flour.
Spread batter in prepared pan. Bake brownies until tester
inserted into center comes out clean, about 25 minutes. Cool brownies in pan.
Place chopped chocolate in a small bowl. Bring topping
and brewed coffee to simmer in small saucepan; pour over chocolate and stir
until melted and smooth. Let ganache stand until cool and beginning to thicken,
about 1 hour; spread evenly over brownies. (Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover and
store at room temperature.) Cut brownies into 15 squares. Top each with a
chocolate coffee bean.
This beloved chocolate-caramel-pecan brownie is a
classic!
8 tablespoons butter (1 stick) cut into chunks
7 ounces bittersweet chocolate, chopped
¾ cup flour
2 eggs
¾ cup sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2/3 cup chopped pecans, about 3 ounces
1 ¼ cups dulce de leche
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Prepare a piece of parchment paper 15” long. Fold it lengthwise to fit into a 9” square pan
allowing excess to hang over the edges of the pan. Spray with baking spray.
Melt butter and chocolate in a double boiler set over a
pan of barely simmering water. Stir occasionally until smooth and combined; set
aside to cool. Beat eggs. Add sugar,
salt and vanilla; whisk until combined.
Add cooled chocolate mixture; whisk until incorporated. Add flour and stir to combine. Add chopped pecans.
Spread half of brownie batter in prepared pan. Drizzle ¼ cup dulce de leche over batter.
Drop remaining batter in large mounds over caramel layer. Drizzle additional ¼
cup dulce de leche over batter Using tip of a knife, swirl caramel and
batter. Bake brownies for 35 to 40
minutes, until a toothpick inserted into center comes out with some moist
crumbs attached. Cool brownies on wire
rack for 1 ½ hours.
Heat remaining dulce de leche until it is warm and runny.
Pour caramel over brownies. Spread
caramel to cover surface. Refrigerate brownies uncovered at least 2 hours.
Holding the parchment edges hanging over the edge of the
pan, lift out brownies. Peel away and
discard paper. Cut brownies into 25 squares. Press a pecan half onto surface of
each brownie. Serve chilled or at room temperature.