For All You Chocolate Lovers

It's been a while since I baked anything with chocolate...which is too bad because chocolate treats are some of the best. Sweetie likes his on the soft side, so I wandered through my cookbooks and found a recipe in Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies that sounded just right. A bar cookie, so easy to make multiple servings, all at once. The addition of walnuts adds to the joy. A little espresso brings out the chocolate richness. Extra chocolate in the form of chips or chunks (I went with the latter). Don't overbake...and that's chocolate perfection.

This cookie is a cross between a blondie (due to lots of brown sugar), a brownie (it even has the paper thin 'crust' that good brownies often have), and, according to Dorie, shortbread. I suspect I would have had to cook mine longer to get that last one, but, again, Sweetie like his cookies soft and even gooey.

They were a hit! I served them for tea one day, with lunch another, for a snack at tea time another and even put one into a lunch bag with sandwich and apple for a friend who was driving a long way home and needed lunch...and maybe dinner...from it all. You choose if you go for the really gooey inside pieces or the outside ones that have a firmer texture except for the corner toward the center on each, where they, too, are gooey (see photo below- right hand corner is toward the center, left side is outside edge). Enjoy the sweet chocolate flavor offset by the espresso powder and the chewy walnuts...and the occasional burst of chocolate chunks. Wonderful!!

Fudgy Mocha Bars

from Dorie Greenspan's Dorie's Cookies
16 squares

1 3/4 cups (238 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (21 grams) unsweetened cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons ground espresso or coffee beans (or instant)
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces; 170 grams) unsalted butter; cut into chunks, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups (250 grams) packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup (134 grams) granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 cup (6 ounces; 170 grams) chocolate pieces (finely chopped in recipe, chunks in my version) - semisweet, bittersweet or milk
1 cup (120 grams) walnuts (finely chopped in recipe, coarsely chopped in my version)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. - center rack in the oven. Butter or spray with baking spray a 9-inch square baking pan and line bottom with parchment paper.

Whisk the flour, cocoa, espresso, baking powder and baking soda together in a bowl. Set aside.

Working with a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, or in a bowl with an electric hand mixer, beat the butter, brown and white sugars and salt together on medium speed for 2 minutes, until smooth.

Add the eggs, one at a time, beating for 1 minute after each addition. Beat in the vanilla. Use a flexible spatula to scrape down the sides and bottom of bowl and the beaters.

Add the dry ingredients all at once. On lowest speed, pulse on and off (to avoid most of the flying flour) a few times then beat on low until almost incorporated. 

Add the chocolate and nuts and mix briefly, then finish mixing in by hand with the spatula. The finished dough will be sticky and heavy. Scrape the dough into the prepared pan and use the spatula to push the dough into the corners and to even the top as best you can.

Bake for 33-36 minutes, rotating the pan after 15 minutes. When done the top will be dry and papery and a tester inserted in the center will come out clean (unless you hit a chocolate chunk like I did!). Transfer to cooling rack and let cool 30 minutes.

Gently run a table knife around the sides of the pan. Invert the cookie block onto the cooling rack, then invert again onto a cutting board. Cut into 16 squares. Let cool or eat warm. Store any leftovers at room temperature, wrapped, for up to 3 days. Tightly wrapped, they can be frozen for up to 2 months.

Chocolate Lover's Brownies

If your really love chocolate, especially dark chocolate, you are going to love these brownies. The brownies themselves are almost velvety in texture, with an intense hit of chocolate and a hint of coffee, plus the pleasure of walnuts. The topping is deep, dark, rich ganache. The combination is every chocolate lover's dream.

Not surprisingly, these brownies use a lot of chocolate...not cocoa powder, but chocolate. I used Scharfenberger semisweet and bittersweet chocolates, combined because it's my favorite chocolate, but you should use your favorite because you really taste the chocolate in these brownies. These are nothing like you would find in a box of brownie mix. I actually love boxed brownie mix brownies, but these are richer and less chewy or fudgy. The addition of some espresso powder really brings out the taste of the chocolate without making them really taste of coffee. The original recipe called for cinnamon, but I do love the way that coffee intensifies chocolate flavor, so I left out the cinnamon and added espresso.

This recipe (minus the espresso but with cinnamon instead) is another discovery from old Bon Appetit magazines. It's been fun to see how recipes and what we are interested in eating has changed over the years. These brownies are from the February 2001 issue. This is a typical recipe for the time...very rich, and a bit time consuming because you have to chop all that chocolate and melt is over simmering water. These days they would probably say to use chocolate chips and to nuke the chocolate in the microwave to melt it, but I followed the instructions for technique, just to see how the brownies turned out. I have to say, it was worth the extra effort! Using top quality chocolate, even if it comes in blocks that need to be chopped, makes for better brownies. The photo below was in bright sunlight. The one at the top was in a dimmer room. The actual color is closer to the one below, but a bit darker.

Chocolate-Espresso Brownies with Chocolate Ganache

adapted from a recipe Feb 2001 issue of Bon Appetit magazine

Makes 16

Brownies

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1/2 teaspoon espresso powder (Original recipe used 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon instead)

1/8 teaspoon salt

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped (I used 4 oz semisweet and 2 oz bittersweet)

Use your favorite chocolate since you really taste the flavor of the chocolate in these.

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced, at room temperature (I used non-dairy butter)

4 large eggs

1 cup sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 cup walnuts, chopped

Ganache (Recipe follows)

Position rack in center of oven and preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Generously butter an 8x8x2-inch metal baking pan; dust with flour. (I lined my pan with foil and then used spray oil and a combination of flour and cocoa powder to dust it.)

Mix flour, espresso powder and salt in a small bowl. Set aside.

Stir chocolate and butter in the top of a double boiler set over simmering water until melted and smooth. Turn off heat. Let chocolate stand over water...it will remain warm.

Using electric mixer, beat eggs and sugar in large bowl until mixture thickens and falls in soft ribbon when beaters are lifted, about 5 minutes. Beat in vanilla. Stir in flour mixture in 2 additions, blending well after each addition. Gradually add warm chocolate to egg mixture, beating until just combined. Stir in walnuts.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Bake brownies until top is set and tester inserted into center comes out with moist crumbs attached, about 35 minutes. Check at 30 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Pour ganache evenly over cooled brownies in pan.

Chill brownies until ganache is set, about 2 hours. Cut into 16 squares. If using foil in pan, use foil to remove brownies to cutting board before cutting into 16 squares. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Cover, chill. Serve at room temperature.)

Ganache

6 ounces semisweet chocolate, chopped

1/8 teaspoon espresso powder

3 tablespoons unsalted butter, room temperature (I used non-dairy butter)

2 tablespoons whipping cream (I used non-sweetened soy creamer)

Whisk all ingredients in small saucepan over medium-low heat until melted and smooth. Pour evenly over cooled brownies in pan.

Brownies and Cheesecake Get Married

Sweetie loves cheesecake. When I read through the four choices for the March Cake Slice Bakers challenge I pretty much decided on the cheesecake right away. Homemade brownies are delicious and wonderful by themselves, but imagine how good they are when folded into a decadent classic vanilla cheesecake batter and that combination is baked in a water bath for the most creamy, decadent dessert ever. What a marriage made in baker's heaven!

Since I wasn't able to even taste the batter, I made sure to bake this delight for Sweetie's Birthday Bash, so that at least some of the two dozen or so other guests could enjoy it and even take leftovers home. You would not believe the groans of delight, the compliments I was showered with, nor the realization that we would only have one small slice for leftovers. This was amazing considering that I made it in an oversized heart shaped pan, using an extra 4 oz. of cream cheese on top of the two pounds...I know, that's a lot of cream cheese...two pounds of cream cheese, almost a whole batch of brownies, 4 eggs, and a lot of love.

As you can see, I didn't follow the recipe exactly. I think that Maida Heatter has some of the best recipes for sweets, but sometimes she seems to complicate things. For the brownies she wanted us to mold aluminum foil first outside of the pan, then inside it. I just sprayed my 8" square pan with baking spray and it worked just fine. The brownies came right out, were diced in about 1/2-inch dice, then frozen.

For the cheesecake she wanted us to use a one piece cheesecake pan. Well, I don't have one of those, so I used the heart shaped springform pan, lined the bottom with a piece of parchment paper, did the foil molding on this pan so that the outside of the pan was surrounded by foil...this keeps any water out during the bake in the water bath. I also created some chocolate cookie crumbs plus butter to put in the bottom of the pan on top of the parchment. Maida wanted us to bake the cheesecake, turn it upside down and sprinkle with graham cracker crumbs, and, I think, then turn it right side up. My cheesecake would never have made it through that. There were some pretty good sized cracks and the texture was so creamy that I think the whole thing would have fallen apart. Sorry Maida.

Although I was able to bake the brownies with no dairy, so I was able to enjoy a taste, there was no way I could taste the cheesecake batter, so I had Sweetie do it. He pronounced it good and when he had the first piece today at the party he pronounced the cake great! The intensely chocolate brownies married to that rich white cheesecake was, by all reports, one of the best cheesecakes ever!

This recipe is really two recipes in one but it is worth the effort for a show stopping cake. If you are rushed for time, just make the brownie part. The brownies are moist, dense, deeply chocolate, a tiny bit chewy on the outside and very tender and soft on the inside, except for the crunch of the walnuts. They make a fine dessert all by themselves. Just cut them in larger pieces than the dice in the photo above. The dice worked great for the cake, but a nice sized square would be better for dessert.

Do check out the cakes baked by the other Cake Slice Bakers...we had some really good choices this month. Click on the photos at the bottom of the post. They will show up once I do the Linky tool.

Brownie Cheesecake
a variation on the recipe in Maida Heatter's Cakes 

Brownies:
1 cup all-purpose flour
3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder, Dutch-process is best
1 teaspoon powdered coffee (espresso powder) or instant coffee granules
pinch of salt
4 oz. (1/2 cup) or 1 stick margarine or butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, cut or broken into small pieces
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 cup granulated sugar
2 eggs at room temperature
1 cup (3.5 oz.) walnuts, broken or chopped into large pieces

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray an 8-inch square cake pan with baking spray. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, cocoa, coffee powder and salt and set aside.

Place the butter and the chocolate in a large microwave-safe mixing bowl. Microwave on half power for a minute at a time, stirring well after each heating, until mixture is smooth. Use a potholder to move the bowl to your work counter and stir in the sugar, vanilla and almond extracts, until well mixed. Let sit 10 minutes.

Stir in the eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each egg is added. Add the sifted dry ingredients in two batches, stirring well to mix after each addition. Stir in the nuts.

Turn the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 22-25 minutes. You'll know it is done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the brownies comes out clean and dry.

Remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 10 minutes. Place a plate or board on top of pan and turn brownie out onto it. Then place a cutting board over that and turn the brownie right side up. Place in freezer for 30 minutes. Remove from freezer and cut brownie into 4 equal pieces. Set one quarter aside for another use (or just to snack on!) and cut the remaining three quarters into 1/2 inch dice. Return diced brownies to the freezer and freeze for at least an hour.

The Cheesecake:
When brownie dice have had enough time in the freezer to become very firm, begin making the cheesecake batter.

2 pounds cream cheese, at room temperature. Maida specified Philadelphia brand, and that is what I usually use, but a good quality cream cheese is what is needed, no matter the brand.
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
4 eggs
2 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/2 cup chocolate cookie or graham cracker crumbs
Pinch of cinnamon if using graham cracker crumbs

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spray a 9 or 10 inch spring form pan with baking spray. Line the bottom with a sheet of parchment, Spray with baking spray again. Using a very large sheet of heavy duty aluminum foil, set the pan in the middle and mold the foil up the sides of the pan. Cut the foil off at the top of the pan and fold any part of the foil that sit above the pan edges down onto the pan edges. Set aside. Find a large pan that can hold the springform pan with a little space on the sides and that is tall enough to hold water halfway up the sides of the springform pan. I used a large roasting pan. Set that aside as well.

In the large bowl of an electric mixer, beat the cream cheese until it is soft and smooth, scraping sides, bottom and beaters with a spatula frequently. Add vanilla extract, salt and sugar. Beat well until well mixed. There should be no lumps of cheese visible.

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, using low speed and only beating until the egg is incorporated. Set aside.

In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter or margarine. Add the crumbs (and the cinnamon if using graham cracker crumbs) and stir to combine. Spread this mixture on the bottom of the prepared pan. It will be a very thin layer. On top of that spoon enough of the cheese mixture to make a layer of about 1/2 inch. I used a 1/3 cup measuring cup to place dollops of the batter all around the pan edge and then the middle, then used a spatula to gently even out the batter.

Add the frozen, diced brownies to the rest of the cheesecake batter. Very gently fold them together, being careful not to break up or crumble the brownies any more than necessary. Turn this mixture into the pan and use the bottom of a spoon the smooth the mixture.

Place the cake pan into the larger pan and add hot water until the water is about 1 1/2 inches deep.

Carefully place the pan into the preheated oven. Bake for 1 1/2 hours. The top of the cake will rise, maybe even slightly above the rim of the pan, during baking and then sink when the cake is cooling. When the cake is done, remove the cake pan from the hot water and place it on a rack to cool. There may be some cracks...that is OK.

Once the cake has cooled, remove the foil outer covering and discard.

When ready to serve, run a knife around the edge of the cake, then loosen the pan sides. Either place the cake with the spring form pan bottom included onto a serving plate, or, if you are daring, try to slice the cake and parchment away from the springform bottom and onto the serving plate.

Decorate as desired and serve. Having a hot towel handy to wipe the knife after each cut will make for nicer slices.

An InLinkz Link-up

Transitions

We have reached the time of transition between winter and spring, and not a day too soon. When we first moved here spring was generally something that started up in February and really got going in March with the apple blossoms finishing things up in early April.

The last four or five years it seems like the rainy season last longer and the warming up takes place much closer to the timetable I remember as a child on the East Coast. The fruit trees still seem to follow the old schedule, so we have finished seeing the almond blossoms in February, plums in March and we are now seeing the pear, quince and apple blossoms.

Everything else, like the tulips and other bulbs have been much slower so they are just now hitting their peak. As you might have guessed from my gushing on about the garden and growing things, my attention has turned to those topics, too. Now that it isn't raining everyday I've been able to do some weeding, some soil preparation, and a bit of pruning.

Indoors I've gotten the seedlings going with hopes to plant them out in mid-April.

Food is still making its way to the table of course, but being creative in the kitchen has taken a back seat to other pursuits.

I did make up some festive 'brownies-in-a-jar" for a fundraiser which was fun. If you want to do the same...perhaps for and adult's Easter basket or for a hostess gift? the URL for how to make the jar of ingredients and also the recipe for baking up the brownies is HERE. There are lots of variations, too. Love mint and chocolate? Just add some chopped up peppermint patties instead of all or part of the chocolate chips. That's just an example...lots more are at the referenced post.

The other recent creative flight of fancy was taking my favorite bread pudding recipe and making a rum-raisin and bannana version. Here is where the transition part comes in because bread pudding is a cosy, winter type of dish and the additions are also easily found in winter most places...but the flavors speak of palm trees and balmy breezes and wicked drinks with paper parasols, the sort of place that almost shouts 'spring break'. This is not the most photogenic of dishes but you get a moist pudding soaked bread, soft and mellow bannanas, raisins spiked with rum, some walnuts for crunch, and nicly browned bready crust on top, too.

Banana Bread Pudding with Rum Raisins

Variation on a recipe from 1971, from a Fredicksburg, Maryland friend

4 cups dry bread cubes
1/4 cup rum
1/4 cup raisins
3 cups milk, scalded
1 tablespoon butter
4 slightly beaten eggs
3/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 sliced ripe, peeled bananas
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)


1) Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2) Place the rum and raisins in a microwave safe dish. Cook in the microwave 1 minute at high power. Set aside until cool.
2) Melt the butter in the milk. Add a little of the milk to the beaten eggs, then add eggs to rest of milk. Stir in the brown sugar, salt, and vanilla. Mix to combine.
3) Put the bread cubes in a large bowl. Pour the egg/sugar/milk mixture over, stir gently, and let sit 15 minutes.
4) Butter a large baking pan. A deep one will give a softer center, a shallower one will give more crispy crust. Gently stir banana slices, rum/raisin mixture and chopped walnuts into bread mixture and pour into baking pan.
5) Bake in a pan of hot water until firm, about 1 hour. Serve warm.

Brownies in the Land of St. Honore'

This post is for my Mom who enjoys our travels in the Land of St. Honore'. As usual, it is pure fiction with no relationship to anyone I know.

It’s late summer in the Land of St. Honore’. The leaves are just beginning to put on their fall colors. In the garden the tomatoes echo those colors and are dazzling in bright hues of orange, red, green, gold and russet.

It is still dark when Giselle and her swain leave home, taking with them a lovely picnic basket and warm sweaters. Once they arrive at their destination the sunrise illuminates the gently filling bag of the hot air balloon. Heat from the burners warms the air and the warming air causes the balloon to rise until it’s like a colorful teardrop, with basket and burner below. They climb aboard and the pilot takes the balloon up into the early morning stillness…broken now and then by the wooooosh of the burners.

As they drift with the wind they are able to see the vineyards spread below them in many shades of green and just touches of fall color. What a perfect way to celebrate their anniversary!

After they have risen and then moved off in a different direction the pilot sees a place to land in a lovely field. He lets the air cool and the balloon slowly descends and then lands with a small bump. Leaving the pilot to attend to the balloon, hand in hand they walk over to a live oak tree in a wide field, lay out their picnic blanket and enjoy the fruit, bread and cheese they have brought from home.

Then Giselle brings out her surprise…freshly baked deep chocolate brownies with walnuts. Some have been given a small rosette of coffee buttercream, just for fun. The brownies are moist and decadent and irresistible. Before they know it the brownies have all been consumed with delight. Giselle gives her husband’s lips a final pat with the napkin, followed by a kiss, and they head back to the waiting balloon for the rest of their ride on their special day.

What Giselle didn’t tell her hubby is that the brownies came out of a jar…sort of. The dry ingredients had been layered in a large jar and all she needed to do was to melt and cool some butter and then beat some eggs, then stir the butter, eggs and contents of the jar together, spread in a pan and bake them. SO easy and very luscious.

You, too, can layer the dry ingredients in a jar, ready for an impulsive brownie baking session or as a gift for someone who loves brownies. These are far better than any from a boxed mix but just as easy on the cook. There are lots of variations at the end of the recipe so that you can personalize them.

Other than the ingredients, the only thing needed is care in placing the ingredients in their layers in the jar. I made a sort of funnel with some waxed paper to keep excess from hitting the sides. A real funnel would probably work even better.

Brownies in a Jar
Makes 1 quart of brownie mix for one 9 x 13 inch pan of brownies

One 1-quart canning jar or 1-quart decorative jar, plus a lid
1 ½ teaspoons baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
2/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder, sifted
2 cups sugar
(NOTE: To be decorative, add ¾ cup sugar, then ¼ cup decorative colored sugar, add another ½ cup plain, ¼ cup decorative and ¼ cup plain or just put in a full cup plain. With all plain it is a large band of white. Alternately, put in ½ sugar then chocolate chips or substitute for chips, then rest of sugar.
2/3 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Put the baking powder and salt in the jar. Carefully spoon the flour into the jar; gently tamp the flour down and wipe the insides of the jar with a dry paper towel to clean off any dust.

Carefully spoon in the cocoa powder, gently tamping it down and wiping down the inside of the jar with a clean paper towel.

Spoon the sugar into the jar, then add the chocolate chips. Seal the jar with a canning lid and ring or decorative lid.

To vary this recipe
Substitute 2/3 cup of any of the following for the chocolate chips:
Butterscotch chips, chopped toasted hazelnuts, chopped walnuts, cocoa nibs, dried blueberries, dried cranberries, M&Ms milk chocolate chips, mint chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, pine nuts, raisins, Reese’s Pieces, white chocolate chips. (NOTE: I used 1/3 cup chocolate chips and 1/3 cup chopped walnuts in my jar. It worked perfectly!)

Brownie Mix Recipe Card - Include a card printed with this recipe with the layered jar of Brownies in a Jar:

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or butter and flour a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.
Empty the brownie mix into a large bowl. Add ¾ cup unsalted butter or margarine, melted and cooled, and 4 large eggs, well beaten. Mix well and spread into the pan with a wooden spoon.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. Cool completely in the pan before cutting.

Colorful Brownies

Sweetie and I have been doing some major construction repairing a couple of windows on the south side of the house where the rain leaked in. The folks who built the house apparently neglected to put flashing in, so we've been dealing with many, many years of leaking. Being the type who tries to look at the bright side, I must admit that it has been a trial to find any silver lining, but learning to put up a fifteen foot high scaffolding was that tiny sliver of silver. It was sort of like playing on jungle gyms as we got higher and higher.

One of the results of this unexpected extra work was that I had committed to bringing more desserts to the picnic on the weekend than I had time to bake from scratch. I decided that the mini peach pies really deserved the time.

It also didn't take very long to slice up some juicy ripe watermelon and cut it into wedges. We kept it cold right up until it was served, so it was quite popular on a warm evening.

The third dessert was brownies. Brownies made from a mix, but dolled up with a few things to make them more appealing.

While they were still hot, I placed halves of York peppermint patties on half of the brownies (I used the small ones) and covered it all up with foil to melt the candies. Once they were melted, I spread the minty goodness over half the pan of brownies. The whole pan then went into the 'fridge to cool overnight.

A few hours before the party I made ganache with

1 cup chocolate chips

1 cup whipping cream

The combination, in a bowl, was microwaved on half power for a minute at a time, with vigorous whisking after each minute, until the ganache was smooth.

After it had cooled a bit to thicken up, I poured about half of it over the pan of brownies and spread it out over the entire pan. While the ganache was still runny, I sprinkled mini-chocolate M&Ms over it.

On the half with the mint, I used only green ones.

On the other half, I used multi-colored M&Ms. This made for some pretty colorful and tasty brownies...and they sure looked like a party!