Death by Chocolate Brownies
I have to thank Rayna, from the Naughty Editions Book Reviews, for sending me this recipe. I’m making them for a party she’s having and when I first looked at it, I thought it was going to be a little more time-consuming than it ended up being.
Making brownies from scratch hasn’t always worked for me. I’m still trying to find a good recipe and I think this is it. Not only was it ridiculously easy, but I had all the ingredients in my pantry. Well, I didn’t have the two chocolates, but that’s because the last type I used was white, but I do typically have bar chocolate in the cupboards. So this is one I could definitely keep on hand for whenever Jesse or I get the chocolate craving.
Plus, I totally see possibilities for turning these into either Dark Chocolate or White Chocolate brownies. I haven’t tried it yet, but I’m thinking if I change the semi-sweet chocolate to dark or white, that it could work. For the white, I may have to change the unsweetened as well, but I’m going to have to try it first. It’s a good thing I’m going to my mother’s soon…now that I found a recipe to play with, I am so totally going to do it.
I may have made one mistake when I made these. I’m not usually a fan of coffee in my baked-goods, but it wasn’t a lot so I gave it a whirl. The mistake may have been how much I put in. I neither have espresso powder or instant coffee crystals. Jesse prefers the ground coffee grounds and that’s what I used for the brownies. Thankfully, I used the smaller measure amount (1-1/2 tsp), so hopefully it won’t come out too strong or weak. We’ll have to see.
Side note: Adding nuts to the top is totally optional. Whenever I include nuts within the recipe, I like to have them on top so it’s easily recognizable that it’s not something for anyone with nut allergies. Also, I’ll get a better picture once I cut.
Ingredients:
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
10 tablespoons (1 stick plus 2 tablespoons) unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons instant espresso powder or 2-3 teaspoons instant coffee crystals
1 1/4 cups sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
2 teaspoons vanilla extract or (Chocolate Extract if you have it)
tiny drops almond extract*
3 large eggs
2/3 cup all-purpose flour (extra half to a full cup for cake-like brownies)
3/4 cup toasted pecans (optional)
Directions:
- Pre-heat oven to 325F. Adjust an oven rack to a lower-middle position.
- Line an 8 inch square metal baking pan with foil or parchment paper.
- Mix and bake brownies according to type desired – Fudge-like or Cake-like.
- Cool brownies in pan on a wire rack. When cool enough to handle, use the foil or parchment to pull the brownies from pan. Completely cool brownies on rack, at least 3 hours for fugdey and 1 hour for cakey. Be patient, or the brownies won’t cut into nice squares and you’ll have a mess on hand. … Cut and enjoy!!!
Fudge-Like brownies
Put chocolates, butter, and instant coffee/espresso in a microwave safe bowl. Microwave on high, stirring every 30 seconds, until chocolate is almost melted. Remove from microwave, and stir to melt remaining bits of chocolate. Alternatively, you can melt the choco/butter/coffee combo over a pan of simmering water: put a heat-proof bowl over a pan of simmering water, making sure the bottom of the bowl doesn’t touch the water, and stir until everything is melted. Remove from heat.
Whisk in sugar, salt, baking powder, and extracts into the chocolate mixture. Then whisk in the eggs, one at a time, mixing each one completely before adding the next one. After adding the eggs, whisk the mixture until smooth and glossy. Add flour; whisk until just incorporated. Do not over mix. Stir in the nuts.
Pour batter into the prepared pan; flatten the top with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick poked into the center comes out with wet crumbs, 55 to 65 minutes. Start checking at 40 minutes, oven may vary.
Cake-Like Brownies
Melt chocolate and coffee together using the above instructions. Let rest. Combine both mixtures together. Sift flour, salt, baking powder together. Then fold in/add that to the choco/butter mix. That should be all the ingredients but the nuts.
Pour batter into the prepared pan; flatten the top with a spatula. Bake until a toothpick poked into the center comes out with clean, 45 to 55 minutes. (If your oven is notorious for overheating, start checking around 35 minutes.)