Tuesday, June 3, 2008

HONEY, DO YOU KNOW WHERE ALL THE BROWNIES WENT TO?


I have to say that I go against the grain when I say this. I am not a big brownie fan. Now that does not mean that I don't get a craving for these chocolatey bites once in a while, because I do. For the most part however, there are so many other things I want to eat or try.



I made Dorie Greenspans recipe (I did not use raisins) with no excitement for the final outcome. Sorry Dorie, it's not you, it's the brownie. I have to say that the batter was out of this world. The final outcome, well, I liked them. They were much lighter than your typical brownie. Neither fudgey or cakey but super chocolatey. Dories orginal intent was to make a cake so think along those lines. I bet you will find in all the Tuesdays with Dorie blogs, mixed results, largely depending on the butter consistency, whipping times and chocolate used.

For me they ranked as a make again recipe as my husband nearly ate the whole batch. I guess you could safely say that his review was more than satisfactory.

French Chocolate Brownies

- makes 16 brownies -
Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours.

Ingredients

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden
1 1/2 tablespoons water
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you're using it.

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

23 comments:

Kim said...

Glad your husband liked them. I'm with you, not a big fan of brownies. But they sure looked good.

Sarah said...

I'm not a brownie person either, but yours look good.

Bumblebutton said...

Funny, I don't really care for brownies either, but my husband loved these too!

Valerie Harrison (bellini) said...

It is always the sign of a good brownie when you look back and say, "Who ate the brownies...."

April said...

They look delicious, so they must taste delicious!

Katrina said...

They look lovely, even if you aren't a brownie fan. Great job.

CB said...

That first picture with the raspberries is fabulous! Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Gretchen Noelle said...

They look delicious! Sorry they were not your favorite!

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

My husband was all about these, too. I had to keep him from eating them before I got them photographed.

Rebecca
http://www.ezrapoundcake.com

Mari said...

Neither my boyfriend nor I are fans of the super fudgey brownies, but we both loved this recipe!

Anonymous said...

Hello Raspberries! ;-)

Christine said...

My husband devoured the brownies! Glad your liked them! Great job!

Heather B said...

I'm glad your husband enjoyed them! I liked them too, they just weren't my favorite. Yours look delicious!

giz said...

This is one of those times that it's a very good thing I didn't join TWD - these would be history in a flash

ServesYouRight said...

Totally enjoyed this post :-) Very happy to hear from you. Will keep coming back to your blog.

Bestest,
Smita

Sihan said...

I'm glad your husband liked them too! I liked them too since they weren't too dense. sort of lessen the guilt. haha. i live in denial...

Jayne said...

I liked the post title! Great job with the brownies!

Dianne's Dishes said...

Sorry you didn't like them that much, but they look great!

Shelly said...

Gimme some ice cream! ;)

Susie Homemaker said...

if the hubby loves them, they are a hit! anything that disappears that quick are surely good. you'll be making them again, I feel sure! great job!

ostwestwind said...

Great looking brownies, I just came until letter C, to visit all TWD entries ;-)

Thanks for stopping by

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Jaime said...

i agree that the results seem varied - i over beat my eggs/sugar and my crust was so much thicker than many others'

the raspberries look great w/the brownies!

Rosie said...

Your brownies look wonderful :)

Rosie x