FRENCH CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

TWD: FRENCH CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Di of  Di's Kitchen Notebook chose this week's TWD recipe: French Chocolate Brownies. Last week was a very busy week for me and I knew if brioche was involved in this weeks recipe again, (sticky buns last Tuesday), then I was going to be in big trouble. Needless to say, I was very excited to see brownies as the next feature TWD recipe. I scanned this recipe quickly, making sure I had all the necessary ingredients and when I saw raisins I was intrigued but not sold. Don't get me wrong, I love raisins--especially when paired with chocolate, however,  I had this vision of creating ice cream sandwiches with the next brownie recipe I made and I knew that raisins wouldn't fit into that so-called dream, especially if Butterfingers, Snickers, and Reese's were to be involved. Raisins would quickly turn that dream into a nightmare. With that said, I omitted the raisin and rum portion of the recipe.

I used different sized heart-shaped cookie cutters to create sandwiches and filled the insides with vanilla bean ice cream. I then chopped up Reese's, Butterfingers, and Snickers and rolled the perimeters creating the perfect little treat. They got a little sloppy because I think the brand of ice cream I used was especially soft; either that or my freezer isn't at optimum freezing levels! All in all, these were really good, however, next time I will definitely make the recipe as is, using the rum and raisins because it does sound very interesting and tasty!

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
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 have 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.