Tag Archives: brownies

Cocoa Brownies

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In December Louise Miller posted her favorite cookie recipes on Twitter including this fudgey brownie recipe from Bon Appetite. It’s part of BA’s best recipes. This recipe makes just the perfect amount of brownies in an 8 X 8 pan. She fancied them up by adding Andes mints to the batter and a chocolate glaze with peppermint extract.

Let’s bake some brownies!

Ingredients

Nonstick vegetable oil spray

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces

1 1/4 cups sugar

3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 large eggs

1/3 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Line an 8 X 8 X 2 glass baking dish with foil, pressing firmly into pan and leaving a 2 inch overhang. Coat foil with nonstick spray; set baking dish aside.

Melt butter is a small sauce pan over medium heat. Let cool slightly. Whisk sugar, cocoa, and salt in a medium bowl to combine. Pour butter in a steady stream into dry ingredients, whisking constantly to blend. Whisk in vanilla. Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously to blend after each addition. Add flour and stir until just combined, (do not overman). I added a cup of chopped up Andes mints and mixed them into the batter. Scrape batter into prepared pan; smooth top.

Bake until top begins to crack and a toothpick inserted into the center comes out with a few moist crumbs, 25-30 minutes.

Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool completely in pan. Using foil overhang, lift brownies out of pan; transfer to a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares.

Louise recommended a delicious glaze for the brownies. It’s super simple and fancies them up. I added sugar pearls on the top. Crushed candy canes are a festive touch.

Chocolate Glaze

4 ounces of butter

8 ounces chopped up semi sweet chocolate or chocolate chips

1/4 cup light corn syrup

1/2 tsp peppermint extract

Melt chocolate and butter in a double boiler, stirring until melted.

Add the light syrup and extract. Mix until combined.

I leave the brownies uncut and in the pan, in the foil wrap and then add the glaze. Smooth the glaze over the brownies making sure to cover every corner! Add any toppings while the glaze is still warm. Once the brownies are cool and the glaze is set, you can take them out of the pan and foil, then cut the brownies.

Store at room temperature. You can bake these ahead of time, and freeze them unfrosted. I leave them in the foil and then defrosted them in the foil and pan. After they were defrosted, I made the glaze.

Enjoy!

Dark chocolate makes the very best…..broooowwwn-ies!

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The Baked Brownie

 

I somehow stumbled upon this fabulous Brooklyn bakery while cruising along online. I have several of their cookbooks. They are droolish-ish. I have made several things, all chocolate, and am very pleased with their recipes. So, chocolate you say? Well, my favorite chocolate is milk chocolate…..ummmm…semi-sweet chocolate.. errrrrrrr……white chocolate. Well, let’s say I love most chocolate but dark chocolate. Until now! The original brownie recipe calls for all dark chocolate, but I used a blend of dark and semi-sweet chocolate. I was scared of too much dark chocolate. Of all things to be afraid of…..this fear stopped me cold. What if I didn’t like these brownies after using 5 EGGS? I hate when things don’t come out right. I mentally calculate the wasted ingredients and mope. This is the first recipe that I can say, beats out any brownie mixes I’ve used. I’ve tried a lot of brownies recipes with very little success. The extra steps in this recipe are worth the time they take.

 

Let’s bake us some brownies!!!

 

1¼ cups all-purpose flour

1 tsp. salt

2 tbsp. dark unsweetened cocoa powder

6 ounces Hershey’s special dark chocolate chips

6 ounces Hershey’s semi-sweet chocolate chips

1 cup (8 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces

1 tsp. instant espresso powder

1 ½ cups granulated sugar

½ cup packed light brown sugar

5 large eggs, at room temperature

2 tsp. vanilla extract

 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 X 13 glass or light-colored baking pan. Line the pan with parchment paper.
  2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder together.
  3. Put the chocolate chips, butter, and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, and then remove the hot bowl from the pan. I usually put a dishtowel underneath the hot bowl. Let the mixture come to room temperature before the next step.
  4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining 2 eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
  5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a rubber spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.
  6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, the lift them out of the pan using the parchment paper. Cut into squares and serve.
  7. Store at room temperature in an airtight container or wrap with plastic wrap for up to 3 days.

 

Feel free to top these babies with some vanilla ice cream!

 

Original recipe