Tuesday, June 3, 2008

TWD-French Chocolate Brownies

A few weeks ago Blake Makes had a giveaway for Amano Chocolate, I was one of the lucky recipients of this sweet treat. I had never heard of them before, so I was excited to get to try it. The lucky ones received 3 bars of 3 different kinds, 2 oz each. (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them) If you haven't checked out Blake yet, make sure you do! He has an awesome site, lots of giveaways and makes some wonderful PBDDL, also known as Peanut Butter Dulce De Leche. You won't be disappointed!



Now, what does this have to do with this weeks TWD recipe? These brownies needed 6 oz of chocolate...just the right recipe to use my Amano chocolate for! Di, from Di's Kitchen Notebook, was the lucky one to choose the recipe for this week. The original recipe called for rum infused raisins, but, I couldn't make myself put raisins in these brownies. Some other TWD chicks went on and added raisins and compared it to raisinettes in brownie form, others used other dried fruits and had great results. I still like my brownies just plain. I loved this brownie recipe. A few ingredients, quick to put together, and a short bake and you have fudgy brownies, with a thin crust on the top. I only had one problem, and that was when you completed mixing, the batter had the consistency of chocolate mousse! I almost ate all of the batter before I could get to the baking part!



Don't forget to check out the other TWD chicks and their take on this recipe. Next weeks recipe comes from Marie at A Year at Oak Cottage and we are using strawberries!



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-along 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.

57 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Great use for the Amano chocolate!

Jeanine - The Baking Beauties said...

Oh yummy, yummy, yummy! I wonder...how many extra pounds is Tuesday's With Dorie actually responsible for America?? Seeing all these wonderful TWD creations week after week...just beautiful! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Glad you liked these too, and I agree, my batter was pretty much mousse when I was done mixing! But no harm, they were wonderful :)

Marie Rayner said...

Great looking brownies! I was so tempted to use some Venezualen black for these, but in the end caved and used Continental dark. My batter was really nice and thick as well. I really loved these!

Bumblebutton said...

Glad you enjoyed the mousse like batter--that was my favorite part!

Sarah said...

What a good way to bake with the Amano chocolate! I just ate mine! ;)

Liliana said...

Your brownies look delicious! We like our brownies plain too!

Amy said...

Your brownies look great!

BAKE-EN said...

I loved these brownies. I agree with you, these brownie were best plain.

Prudy said...

I love my brownies plain, too. Well, plain with some toasted nuts. I'd love that peanut butter dulce de leche!

Linda said...

Admittedly, there was a lot of batter tasting going on at my house, so do agree that it was tasty even before it went in the oven! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Your brownies looks awesome! So rich and chocolatey!

Susie Homemaker said...

I liked the consistancy too! So yummy! have you noticed how many of us DIDN'T use raisins?? I know I didn't! I bet yours were great with that Amano!

Mari said...

These brownies made a brownie lover out of me! Your look nice and fudgey too!

Anonymous said...

Oh yum!! They look so thick and fudgy!!!

Annemarie said...

I'm with you on the plainness of brownies! Leave 'em alone!! Great job!

Amy W said...

Sadly, I ate all my Amano chocolate, but they would have been perfect for this!

CB said...

Omg so true. That batter was SO good. Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Mary Ann said...

Those look super fudgy! Yum-great job

Anonymous said...

Ha! I didn't think about the mousse part - but now that you mention it, it definitely had that consistency!! I was exercising extreme self control that day (the only exercise I get) so I didn't try it raw - now I wish I had!!

Nikki57 said...

I loved the batter too

Mumsy said...

I like mine plain, too. :)

What a lucky girl you are to have won that giveaway! I've never tried Amano chocolate, but I really want to.

Great job!

PheMom said...

Great job on your brownies! Wasn't that Amano chocolate sooper!! ;)

Kayte said...

It is amazing how many people this week really were revolted by the thought of putting raisins in the brownies...I think you all must be true brownie fans with definite ideas of what does and what does not make a good brownie. I put them in and my husband and kids didn't even realize they were in there. Wonder what else I could hide nutritionally in these without them knowing??? Yours look very fudgy and I am sure they went over well there!
~Kayte

Anne said...

Those look so good! I thought the batter was amazing too. Great job!

Sihan said...

i like mine plain too! glad ur amano chocolate came to good use! must have been reallie good cause your brownies look absolutely delectable.

marae said...

yummmmmmmm for amano chocolate...those brownies look THICK and good. where's the milk?!?!

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm, so chocolatey. So fudgy. YUM.

eatme_delicious said...

Yum your brownies look delicious! And how nice that you got to try out your new chocolate in it.

Tammy said...

wow, that looks so yummy and fudgey

Gretchen Noelle said...

Great use of the chocolate!

Anonymous said...

Amano chocolate brownies! The batter was having trouble getting in the pan here too, lol!

Anonymous said...

How was the Amano chocolate? I've never heard of it before!

Great job!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

i bet they were delicious with that wonderful chocolate! they look great!

Di said...

I'm glad these were a good use for your new chocolate. The finished brownies look great!

Anonymous said...

Yummy brownies!! I bet they tasted great with the Amano too!

Heather B said...

I wish I would have had my Amano chocolate to use in these! I bet they were delicious! Great job!

Melissa said...

I wish I had some Amano!

Anonymous said...

I used my Amano a few weeks ago in a Dorie recipe and now I can't remember which one. Urgh. I need to figure that out before it drives me nuts!

Okay, sorry about that...

Your brownies look fabulous! I had the same problem with the batter. I think it was better than the cooked brownies!

Dolores said...

I was wondering if anyone would use their Blake bounty... and how they would turn out.

I also nearly nixed the fruit (John's not a fan) but in the end I added cherries. So I have brownie Mon Cherie, not Raisinettes. :)

Anonymous said...

I imagine they were great with that chocolate.

Hygeian Stew said...

Nice work. I agree, the batter was delicious!

Anonymous said...

Yummy looking brownies. What a great way to use such a wonderful chocolate treat.

Carrie said...

The batter was a problem for me too. Beautiful brownies :)

Anonymous said...

Great way to use the Amano Chocolate! I just ate mine straight up! ;)

ostwestwind said...

Great looking brownies, I liked the texture of the batter ...
Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Anonymous said...

Your brownies look so fudgy! They are making me hungry. :)

Garrett said...

I have to admit, the batter did look delicious on its own. I ended up licking the bowls clean :-)

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

I bet that Amano chocolate tasted good in this brownie!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Liliana said...

Great looking brownies! They must have had a great taste with the Amano chocolate. We like our brownies plain too with glasses of cold milk!

Anonymous said...

Yum! Those look delicious!

Carla said...

Brownie batter is always hard to leave alone when pouring! Yours turned out great :)

Jayne said...

Your brownies look really, really good!!

Sharon said...

I love this recipe. It is so good.

Chez Us said...

They turned out fantastic! Congrats on getting tagged twice, too!

Anonymous said...

Oh, so fudgy. They look great

Anonymous said...

We'd like to invite you to participate in our July berry recipe contest. All competitors will be placed on our blogroll, and the winner will receive a fun prize! Please email me, sophiekiblogger@gmail.com, if you're interested. Feel free to check out our blog for more details. (Click on my name in the message to visit our blog. :)

Tuesday, June 3, 2008

TWD-French Chocolate Brownies

A few weeks ago Blake Makes had a giveaway for Amano Chocolate, I was one of the lucky recipients of this sweet treat. I had never heard of them before, so I was excited to get to try it. The lucky ones received 3 bars of 3 different kinds, 2 oz each. (Sorry, I didn't get a picture of them) If you haven't checked out Blake yet, make sure you do! He has an awesome site, lots of giveaways and makes some wonderful PBDDL, also known as Peanut Butter Dulce De Leche. You won't be disappointed!



Now, what does this have to do with this weeks TWD recipe? These brownies needed 6 oz of chocolate...just the right recipe to use my Amano chocolate for! Di, from Di's Kitchen Notebook, was the lucky one to choose the recipe for this week. The original recipe called for rum infused raisins, but, I couldn't make myself put raisins in these brownies. Some other TWD chicks went on and added raisins and compared it to raisinettes in brownie form, others used other dried fruits and had great results. I still like my brownies just plain. I loved this brownie recipe. A few ingredients, quick to put together, and a short bake and you have fudgy brownies, with a thin crust on the top. I only had one problem, and that was when you completed mixing, the batter had the consistency of chocolate mousse! I almost ate all of the batter before I could get to the baking part!



Don't forget to check out the other TWD chicks and their take on this recipe. Next weeks recipe comes from Marie at A Year at Oak Cottage and we are using strawberries!



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-along 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.

57 comments:

Engineer Baker said...

Great use for the Amano chocolate!

Jeanine - The Baking Beauties said...

Oh yummy, yummy, yummy! I wonder...how many extra pounds is Tuesday's With Dorie actually responsible for America?? Seeing all these wonderful TWD creations week after week...just beautiful! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Glad you liked these too, and I agree, my batter was pretty much mousse when I was done mixing! But no harm, they were wonderful :)

Marie Rayner said...

Great looking brownies! I was so tempted to use some Venezualen black for these, but in the end caved and used Continental dark. My batter was really nice and thick as well. I really loved these!

Bumblebutton said...

Glad you enjoyed the mousse like batter--that was my favorite part!

Sarah said...

What a good way to bake with the Amano chocolate! I just ate mine! ;)

Liliana said...

Your brownies look delicious! We like our brownies plain too!

Amy said...

Your brownies look great!

BAKE-EN said...

I loved these brownies. I agree with you, these brownie were best plain.

Prudy said...

I love my brownies plain, too. Well, plain with some toasted nuts. I'd love that peanut butter dulce de leche!

Linda said...

Admittedly, there was a lot of batter tasting going on at my house, so do agree that it was tasty even before it went in the oven! Great job!

Anonymous said...

Your brownies looks awesome! So rich and chocolatey!

Susie Homemaker said...

I liked the consistancy too! So yummy! have you noticed how many of us DIDN'T use raisins?? I know I didn't! I bet yours were great with that Amano!

Mari said...

These brownies made a brownie lover out of me! Your look nice and fudgey too!

Anonymous said...

Oh yum!! They look so thick and fudgy!!!

Annemarie said...

I'm with you on the plainness of brownies! Leave 'em alone!! Great job!

Amy W said...

Sadly, I ate all my Amano chocolate, but they would have been perfect for this!

CB said...

Omg so true. That batter was SO good. Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Mary Ann said...

Those look super fudgy! Yum-great job

Anonymous said...

Ha! I didn't think about the mousse part - but now that you mention it, it definitely had that consistency!! I was exercising extreme self control that day (the only exercise I get) so I didn't try it raw - now I wish I had!!

Nikki57 said...

I loved the batter too

Mumsy said...

I like mine plain, too. :)

What a lucky girl you are to have won that giveaway! I've never tried Amano chocolate, but I really want to.

Great job!

PheMom said...

Great job on your brownies! Wasn't that Amano chocolate sooper!! ;)

Kayte said...

It is amazing how many people this week really were revolted by the thought of putting raisins in the brownies...I think you all must be true brownie fans with definite ideas of what does and what does not make a good brownie. I put them in and my husband and kids didn't even realize they were in there. Wonder what else I could hide nutritionally in these without them knowing??? Yours look very fudgy and I am sure they went over well there!
~Kayte

Anne said...

Those look so good! I thought the batter was amazing too. Great job!

Sihan said...

i like mine plain too! glad ur amano chocolate came to good use! must have been reallie good cause your brownies look absolutely delectable.

marae said...

yummmmmmmm for amano chocolate...those brownies look THICK and good. where's the milk?!?!

Anonymous said...

Mmmmm, so chocolatey. So fudgy. YUM.

eatme_delicious said...

Yum your brownies look delicious! And how nice that you got to try out your new chocolate in it.

Tammy said...

wow, that looks so yummy and fudgey

Gretchen Noelle said...

Great use of the chocolate!

Anonymous said...

Amano chocolate brownies! The batter was having trouble getting in the pan here too, lol!

Anonymous said...

How was the Amano chocolate? I've never heard of it before!

Great job!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

i bet they were delicious with that wonderful chocolate! they look great!

Di said...

I'm glad these were a good use for your new chocolate. The finished brownies look great!

Anonymous said...

Yummy brownies!! I bet they tasted great with the Amano too!

Heather B said...

I wish I would have had my Amano chocolate to use in these! I bet they were delicious! Great job!

Melissa said...

I wish I had some Amano!

Anonymous said...

I used my Amano a few weeks ago in a Dorie recipe and now I can't remember which one. Urgh. I need to figure that out before it drives me nuts!

Okay, sorry about that...

Your brownies look fabulous! I had the same problem with the batter. I think it was better than the cooked brownies!

Dolores said...

I was wondering if anyone would use their Blake bounty... and how they would turn out.

I also nearly nixed the fruit (John's not a fan) but in the end I added cherries. So I have brownie Mon Cherie, not Raisinettes. :)

Anonymous said...

I imagine they were great with that chocolate.

Hygeian Stew said...

Nice work. I agree, the batter was delicious!

Anonymous said...

Yummy looking brownies. What a great way to use such a wonderful chocolate treat.

Carrie said...

The batter was a problem for me too. Beautiful brownies :)

Anonymous said...

Great way to use the Amano Chocolate! I just ate mine straight up! ;)

ostwestwind said...

Great looking brownies, I liked the texture of the batter ...
Ulrike from Küchenlatein

Anonymous said...

Your brownies look so fudgy! They are making me hungry. :)

Garrett said...

I have to admit, the batter did look delicious on its own. I ended up licking the bowls clean :-)

Shari@Whisk: a food blog said...

I bet that Amano chocolate tasted good in this brownie!
Shari@Whisk: a food blog

Liliana said...

Great looking brownies! They must have had a great taste with the Amano chocolate. We like our brownies plain too with glasses of cold milk!

Anonymous said...

Yum! Those look delicious!

Carla said...

Brownie batter is always hard to leave alone when pouring! Yours turned out great :)

Jayne said...

Your brownies look really, really good!!

Sharon said...

I love this recipe. It is so good.

Chez Us said...

They turned out fantastic! Congrats on getting tagged twice, too!

Anonymous said...

Oh, so fudgy. They look great

Anonymous said...

We'd like to invite you to participate in our July berry recipe contest. All competitors will be placed on our blogroll, and the winner will receive a fun prize! Please email me, sophiekiblogger@gmail.com, if you're interested. Feel free to check out our blog for more details. (Click on my name in the message to visit our blog. :)