This was one of those weeks where it was hard to juggle work, life, socializing, baking, blogging, exercising, and breathing. Not to mention "gardening" which this week has consisted of rushing to water my plants before it got too dark by the time I get home and before my evening meetings started. The weeds have taken over in gleeful abundance but I have no time to care at the moment. It'll have to wait until the weekend.
In the meantime, a couple of nights ago I had a marathon super woman session - got home from the office with 30 minutes to spare before my 8 pm meeting in which time I managed to water the garden, harvest some tomatoes and throw a pan of these brownies into the oven - go me. I needed to bake something for someone I was meeting early the next morning before work and for another friend I was meeting for dinner after work last night. Usually when I'm in a crunch I rely on previously made and frozen cookie dough in my freezer but my stash of baked goods was dangerously low.
I had wanted to make these brownies from one of the Baked books I got for my birthday as the picture in the book looked so good, nice and fudgy. Mine baked for less time than the recipe said but the toothpick already came out with a few moist crumbs just a few minutes shy of 30 minutes. They didn't come out as thick as the ones pictured in the book but they were still fudgy and good. This is more of a dark chocolate brownie and you can taste the undertones of the espresso. The only thing I would change next time is to bake this in a slightly smaller pan to make them thicker.
1 ¼ cups flour
1 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
11 ounces dark chocolate (60 to 72% cacao), coarsely chopped
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoons instant espresso powder
1 ½ cups granulated sugar
½ cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1. Preheat the oven to 350⁰F. Butter the sides and bottom of a 9 x 13-inch glass or light-colored metal baking pan.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder together.
3. Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth. Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan. The mixture should be room temperature.
4. Add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined. Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined. Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
5. Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula (not a whisk), fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of the flour mixture is visible.
6. Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through the baking time, until a toothpick inserted into the center of the brownies comes out with a few moist crumbs sticking to it. Let the brownies cool completely, then cut them into squares and serve.
Since my baking has been so limited lately, I'm linking this to a few of the link parties I normally participate in at once:
Tightly covered with plastic wrap, the brownies keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.
They look soooooo good!
ReplyDelete