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.

Dumpy Blondes

When I was younger I took it for granted that visitors would always enjoy something sweet for dessert or as an afternoon (or midnight) snack. Now I assume that guests won't want such things around because it seems that many people are watching what they eat, even when on vacation. That's sad. Vacations seem to me to be a time to ignore our every day assumptions and let loose a bit.

Fortunately I found by observation that our current guests share my opinion, so this afternoon I mixed up a batch of bar cookies to enjoy in the evening. These are on the sweet side, but they have a salty element, too. Since they are inspired by various cookie recipes I've seen that use cereal, pretzels, and potato chips in addition to traditional cookie additions, I'm calling them Dumpy Blondes.

The 'blondes' part is because while they are bar cookies, like brownies, they have a brown sugar and butter background instead of chocolate, making them blondies. I suspect that there may be a recipe just like this somewhere in the blogosphere, but maybe not. At any rate, I started with the Big Blondes variation that I posted here and added salty nuts and salty potato chips instead of toffee bits. They are big in flavor, big in quantity, but dumpy due to the dump of ingredients that make them interesting. Try some!

Dumpy Blondes
A variation of a recipe by Jill O’Connor in Sticky, Chewy, Messy, Gooey, Desserts for the Serious Sweet Tooth.

1 cup (2 sticks) butter
3 cups firmly packed dark brown sugar
4 large eggs
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
¾ teaspoon baking powder
DUMP INGREDIENTS:
3 cups mixed nuts – I used one cup of pecans plus two cups of a mixture that included salted peanuts, whole almonds and walnut pieces
1 cup sweetened shredded coconut
1 cup crushed salted potato chips
1 cup white chocolate chips
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

Position oven rack in the middle of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Use cooking spray to lightly coat a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.

Melt the butter and brown sugar together in a large heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium heat. Cook, stirring constantly, until the butter and sugar are blended and completely melted and starting to bubble gently. Remove the pan from heat and let the mixture cool slightly.

In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, vanilla and salt. Slowly whisk the cooled butter and sugar mixture into the eggs just until combined. Whisk in the flour and baking powder to form a loose batter. (Make sure the batter is cool before stirring in the remaining ingredients, otherwise the chocolate will start to melt before the bars are baked.)

Stir the nuts, coconut, potato chips, and white and dark chocolate chips into the cooled batter. (I mixed all of the dump ingredients together in a very large measuring cup before adding to the batter. That way I knew that there wouldn’t be a clump of potato chips here and a clump of white chocolate there, but rather a nice mix of all the goodies.)

Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.

Bake until the tip is shiny and slightly crackled and feels firm to the touch, 30 – 35 minutes. A wooden skewer inserting into the batter should come out with moist crumbs clinging to it. Let cool on a wire rack to room temperature, then cut into bars and serve.

Makes 15 large or 30 small bars.