Chocolate Caramel Brownies

Chocolate Caramel Brownies - made August 19, 2011 from The Brownie Experience by Lisa Tanner

Once upon a time, this was my most prized brownie recipe.  I discovered it early in college and it was always an instant hit whenever I made it.  When people asked me for the recipe, I regretfully couldn't (or let's face it, I wouldn't) share it because I felt it was "my" recipe and I didn't want just anyone to be able to duplicate it.  I referred to it a couple of years ago in my lemon bar post and the bad experience I had with someone who I did share it with.  After how she turned into a Single White Female episode, I was soured on sharing it with anyone else.  Only my nieces were the exception and I even published as part of a tastebook to give to them.

Since then and since embarking on my blog, I've gotten a lot less territorial about recipes.  And I'm finally ready to share this one, partly because it's my pay-it-forward for all the great recipes people have shared with me and partly because, oh yeah, I'm over being selfish, narcissist and what-all with it.  LOL.  I made this brownie yesterday at the request of one of my nieces as this is her favorite.  Can't say no, now can I?

Some tips to make this recipe a success and I've learned this through many years of trial and error with this recipe.

1. Toast the pecans to bring out their flavor.
2. The caramel is the trickiest part of the brownie.  When done correctly, the end result will be an almost chewy toffee-like topping with a slight crunch brought out by the caramelized pecans.  When done incorrectly, it's grainy and greasy.  When you're melting the butter and brown sugar together, whisk it constantly to keep it emulsified and melt it over medium to low heat.  If the butter gets too hot, it'll be harder to emulsify with the brown sugar.  I never use a candy thermometer but you know when it's done when it's golden brown and a thick liquid.  If it's too brown or too thin, it got overheated and isn't whisked together enough. Don't start making the caramel until the brownies have been baking for at least 10-12 minutes.  You want to time it so that the caramel is ready to pour over the brownies right when the brownies are ready to come out of the oven for the first baking.
3. Make sure to bake the brownies adequately.  A common mistake I've made in the past is not baking the brownies long enough before I add the caramel and then the brownies come out flat and stick to the foil lining.  It tastes okay but it'd be better if they were properly baked.

1/2 cup butter
4 ounces unsweetened chocolate
4 eggs
2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup flour
1 cup pecan halves, lightly toasted
1 1/2 cups chocolate chips

Caramel Syrup
1 cup butter
2/3 cup dark brown sugar, tightly packed

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13 baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In the top half of double boiler set over hot, not simmering, water, melt butter and unsweetened chocolate, whisking until completely melted and smooth; set aside.
3. In a medium-sized bowl, beat eggs with wire whisk; beat until light. Beat in sugar, salt and vanilla until blended. Stir in chocolate mixture then flour. Stir until combined. Pour into prepared pan.
4. Bake 15-20 minutes or until top is firm to touch and center doesn't jiggle. While brownie is baking, prepare caramel syrup: melt butter and brown sugar in heavy saucepan over medium-low heat, whisking constantly as mixture melts. Whisk until combined and mixture begins to bubble and boil. Do not overheat.
5. Remove brownies from oven and carefully sprinkle top with pecans. Brownies should be baked enough to hold weight of pecans without sinking. Pour caramel evenly over surface. Return to oven and bake 10 minutes longer or until caramel is bubbling over entire top of brownie. Remove from oven and immediately sprinkle with chocolate chips. Let chocolate melt slightly. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

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Petite Banana Cakes

Petite Banana Cakes - made August 13, 2011 from Cocolat by Alice Medrich (book #150)

Out of an entire cookbook named after chocolate, I chose a non-chocolate recipe.  Go figure.  But I had overripe bananas in my freezer and I was in the mood for something non-chocolaty for once.  I also needed to take something over to my parents' house for my weekly Sunday visit and they generally prefer something that isn't chocolate so this recipe fit the bill.  I've had this book for years but confess it's another one that I've hardly ever used.  The pictures are beautiful and the recipes don't look hard but many of them are long and require a lot of time and planning.  I can do the second but don't have enough of the first whenever I feel like baking.  So it's no coincidence that I chose one of the simplest recipes in the book to make.

However, I'm glad I did as this turned out to be a pretty good banana cake.  Still not quite up to Icing on the Cake's banana cake which is my pinnacle for banana cake but it came pretty close in terms of texture and taste.  If I had frosted it with cream cheese frosting, it would've come even closer.  As it was, it works well as an unfrosted cake too.  I made these in mini panettone liners and liked that much better than baking in ordinary cupcake liners.  You don't even need to put the panettone liners in a muffin tin as they can standalone on a baking sheet and bake just fine without losing shape.  Not to mention I like how they looked more than ordinary cupcakes.

1 cup lightly mashed ripe banana (about 2 large bananas)

¼ cup buttermilk

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 ¼ cups (9 ounces) sifted cake flour

½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon baking soda

½ teaspoon salt

4 ounces (1 stick) unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

½ cup (3 ½ ounces) brown sugar

2 large eggs, at room temperature

1 cup (5 ounces) coarsely chopped walnuts

1.      Preheat oven to 350⁰F.  Combine mashed banana, buttermilk, and vanilla in a small bowl set in a pan of hot water.  Set aside until mixture is at room temperature.  Meanwhile sift together cake flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.

2.     In the bowl of an electric mixer, cream butter.  Gradually add white and brown sugars until very light.  One at a time, add eggs, beating until each is incorporated.  Add the sifted dry ingredients in 3 parts, alternating with the banana-buttermilk mixture in 2 parts.  Beat each addition only until incorporated; scrape the bowl as often as necessary.  Fold in walnuts.  Use a spoon or a pastry bag with a large opening to fill muffin cups about three-fourths full.

3.     Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center tests dry, 20-25 minutes.  Cool in the pan on a rack.  Cupcakes can be prepared up to 2 days ahead and stored in a covered container in the refrigerator or frozen for up to 2 months.

Chocolate Cashew Coconut Clusters

Chocolate Cashew Coconut Clusters - made August 13, 2011 from Death by Chocolate Cookies by Marcel Desaulniers (book #149)

Finally, a non-brownie recipe :).  I only made 1/4 of this recipe as I just wanted to try it out in case I want to make it for holiday gift packages later on in the year.  It's sometimes tricky to work with chocolate in the summer because of the heat.  Even though I live in a temperate climate, when it's warm, chocolate still doesn't set properly without a little help from the refrigerator and even after it's set, you still need to keep it cool to prevent it from melting again.

I love cashews and I love coconut so this is my kind of confection.  I switched out the semisweet chocolate for milk chocolate to make it even more to my liking.  With only 3 ingredients, I hope I hardly need say to use the best quality ingredients that you can.  Whole cashews worked well for this and if you can't find fresh coconut, the packaged kind is fine but don't use something that's been sitting in your pantry for months.  And use the best quality chocolate you can!  I used the E. Guittard milk chocolate wafer buttons that Sur La Table sells.  I would've preferred Valrhona which is my favorite milk chocolate but my retail sources only sell it in semisweet.

Careful when you toast the coconut as it can brown quickly.  You want to spread it in a shallow layer and bake it in a light-colored pan, stirring it every so often to let it brown more evenly.  Don't worry about having it all be brown - if you try to toast every shred of coconut, some will burn while others remain white.  As long as the majority are a light golden brown, it'll be fine.

Anytime you melt chocolate and rely on it to cool and harden again, you have to be careful not to overheat it in the melting stage.  Chocolate should be tempered in order to avoid chocolate bloom, those grayish streaks you see once the chocolate sets if the chocolate hasn't been tempered properly.

I liked how this recipe turned out.  Normally I like my coconut to be soft and chewy but toasting it gave the candy a nice crunch.  It's definitely more of a winter or cold-weather candy to make though as milk chocolate has a lower melting point than dark chocolate and it was too easy for it to melt once it's out of the refrigerator.

2 cups unsalted cashews

8 ounces shredded dried coconut

1 pound semisweet chocolate, chopped into ¼” pieces

1.    Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.

2.   Toast the cashews on a baking sheet in the preheated oven for 20 minutes or until uniformly golden brown.  Cool the nuts to room temperature.

3.   Toast the coconut on a baking sheet in the preheated oven until lightly golden around the edges, about 10 minutes.  Cool the coconut to room temperature.

4.   Heat 1 inch of water in the bottom half of a double boiler over medium heat.  With the heat on, place the semisweet chocolate in the top half of the double boiler.  Use a rubber spatula to stir the chocolate until completely melted and smooth, about 5 to 6 minutes.  Transfer the melted chocolate to a 4-quart bowl.  Add the cashews and coconut.  Use a rubber spatula to stir the mixture until the cashews and coconut are completely coated with chocolate.

5.   Immediately portion 24 clusters, 1 heaping tablespoon (approximately 1 ½ ounces) of mixture per cluster onto wax paper.  Allow the clusters to harden at room temperature for 1 hour, then refrigerate for 30 minutes until firm enough to handle.  Store the clusters in a tightly sealed plastic container in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

Garden update - my first corn harvest!

August 13, 2011

When I first planted the corn seedlings right before Easter, I made the novice mistake of planting the seedlings too close together.  I had to dig up a few before they grew too big and replant them in a different "line" so they had room to grow.  Furthermore, I also didn't know at the time that you shouldn't plant corn in single-file fashion but clustered together so they can pollinate more easily.  I also happened to plant them so that some got more sun than others.  Eh, I probably committed just about every mistake you can make with corn.

No matter, they still grew!  Thanks to almost daily watering, the ones that got the most sun are higher than my fence and yesterday I harvested 3 full, ripe ears of corn.  There are still a couple dozen ears growing along so fortunately I can harvest them gradually and keep myself supplied with fresh corn.  Kewwwwwl.......

Peanut Butter Surprise Bars - revisited

The "surprise" is the peanut butter cup inside each piece

I've already blogged about these brownies from The Good Cookie by Tish Boyle and normally I wouldn't write them up again even though I'm baking them again but I wanted to post a better picture of them since I have a better camera now than the last time I took a picture of these.  And in case you're new to my blog and haven't seen some of the older posts, I thought I'd link the recipe back up.

I'm making these again because one of my nieces started college already and I promised to send her a care package.  I asked her what kind of brownies she wanted and her response was "the kind with Reeses that you make".  I actually make several different kinds with peanut butter cups but I think this is the one she meant.  And if not, she said she was going through "Tita brownie withdrawals over here" (they call me Tita which is the Filipino word for Aunt) so I figured these would still suffice, lol.

In case you want to see that peanut butter cup close up :)

This is a good brownie to put in a care package because it holds up well, even in warm weather.  Slice into individual pieces, wrap each piece in plastic wrap and ship in a small, sturdy box (the small flat rate USPS box is ideal since you don't have to worry about the weight of the box increasing the cost).  If you're mailing it with other flavors, it's not likely to overwhelm the other food items with peanut butter-ness since it's just the peanut butter cup that comprises the peanut butter part of the brownie.  But wrap it up separately anyway, just in case.

Sometimes you just need a(nother) brownie

The Baked Brownie - made August 10, 2011 from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito

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.

Baking Book Giveaway winner

And the winner is.....Cindy B!  Congratulations, Cindy - please email me at pastrychef17@gmail.com and send me your address and I will mail out Gorgeous Cakes to you by this weekend.

Thanks to everyone for your comments and recipes.  I deliberately did not "advertise" the giveaway beyond my blog as I figure I'd rather the book go to people who come regularly and and read my blog.  Keeping the pool of entrants small gives you a greater chance of winning, right?  Don't worry if you didn't win this time.  I will be doing this again :).

My blog's been quiet for the past few days as I've been out of town but I just got back and I hope to get back to it this week.  I don't have a backlog of anything new that I've baked so I've got to get busy.

Still more brownies

One-Pot Brownies - made July 31, 2011 from The Chocolate Companion by Cynthia Shade Rogers (book #148)

This is my last brownie post of the week as I ran out of time to make more for the goodie bags I needed this week.  I'm almost afraid to post the original name of this recipe in case it pops up for anyone searching for "pot brownies".  The "pot" in this case refers to the top half of the double boiler you should melt the butter and chocolate in and mix in the rest of the ingredients.  If you were searching for another kind of pot, move on, lol.

This is one of those fall-back, foolproof brownie recipes where if you're in a hurry and pressed for time, you can throw this together in the time it takes for the oven to preheat.  I need a bunch of brownies and only have a small amount of baking time so this one met my needs perfectly.  Of course I couldn't resist dressing it up a bit and added small dollops of dulce de leche in the middle of the brownie.  This one turned out fine although I'm either very jaded about brownies or else...I'm very jaded about brownies.  I wouldn't say this is really a standout.  It's fine but I probably won't remember anything about it once the next recipe crosses my path.

½ cup butter

2 ounces unsweetened chocolate

1 cup of sugar

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 eggs

½ cup flour

½ cup walnuts (optional)

1.     Preheat the oven to 325⁰F.  Grease an 8-inch baking pan lined with foil.

2.     Melt butter and chocolate together in a medium-sized heavy saucepan.  Add vanilla extract and mix well.

3.     Let cool to lukewarm.

4.     Quickly beat in two eggs with a wooden spoon.

5.     Stir in flour and nuts, if using.

6.     Pour into baking pan and bake for 30 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out with moist crumbs.

Brownies - what else?

Brownies - made July 30, 2011 from Dessert University by Roland Mesnier (book #147)

Don't forget to enter the baking giveaway a couple of posts below by leaving a comment in that post - entry period until midnight PST on Sunday, August 7.

Second brownie post in a row.  Which must mean it's serious brownie making time again as I need them for at least a dozen goodie bags this week.  And no matter how much I like the recipes I've already tried, when given a choice, I prefer trying another new one.  When it comes to brownies, I'm sometimes recipe agnostic.  Many of them are quite similar but there is a certain technique in having them turn out well.  Heaven knows I've practiced long enough and often enough to be able to make decent brownies.

For fudgy brownies, this recipe recommends taking the pan out halfway during baking time and rapping it on the counter to deflate the air in it and make the brownies more dense.  I've read other recipes that do the same thing but I've rarely tried that method.  This seemed like a good time to experiment.  And of course I can't leave well enough alone so not only did I make this brownie but I covered the top with the nutella crunch topping.  Decadence.  Brownies.  Same thing.

Actually, I'm glad I did because otherwise this would be a thin brownie.  It was good but I wouldn't say it struck me as anything out of the ordinary had I left it as is.  But it made a good base for the nutella crunch.  It was almost like a dense chocolate cake than a true brownie but was good nonetheless.

10 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ cups sugar

3 large eggs

1 large egg yolk

1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract

Pinch salt

5 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 ½ cups pecan pieces

1 recipe Semisweet Chocolate Glaze, warmed

Semisweet Chocolate Glaze (I substituted the nutella crunch topping instead of the glaze)

One 12-ounce bag semisweet chocolate chips

1 cup plus 6 tablespoons heavy cream

1.     Preheat the oven to 400⁰F.  Grease a 9 x 13-inch baking pan and line the bottom with parchment paper.

2.    In a large mixing bowl with an electric mixer on medium speed, cream the butter and sugar together until fluffy, 2 to 3 minutes.  Add the eggs and the egg yolk one at a time and beat until smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl after each addition.  Add the vanilla, salt and cocoa powder and mix well.  Beat in the flour until well combined.  Stir in the nuts.  Remove the bowl from the mixer, scrape down the sides, and give the batter a few more stirs by hand to make sure that all the ingredients are well incorporated.

3.    Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula.  Bake for 10 minutes.  Then, for fudgy brownies, remove the pan from the oven and tap it on the counter to make the rising brownies collapse.  Return the pan to the oven and bake until firm to the touch, 8 to 10 minutes more.  Do not overbake or your brownies will be dry.  Remove the pan from the oven, place it on a wire rack, and let the brownies cool completely in the pan.

4.    Make the glaze: Place the chocolate in a heatproof bowl.  Bring the cream to a near boil in a small saucepan.  Pour the hot cream over the chocolate and whisk until smooth.  Cool to room temperature.

5.    Invert the cooled brownies onto a baking sheet and peel off the parchment paper. 

6.    Place the uncut brownies back in the pan.  Rewarm the glaze if necessary, and pour the glaze over the brownies, smoothing it evenly wit ha spatula.  Brownies will keep in the refrigerator, loosely draped with plastic wrap, for up to 1 week.

Cookies n Cream n Caramel Brownies, oh my

Bethlehem Brownies - made July 30, 2011 from Christmas Cookies from the Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye and Liv Hansen (book #146)

Just a wee bit too underdone

The original name of these brownies is Bethlehem Brownies since they're in a Christmas cookie book but I've decided not only to take liberties with the name but with the brownies themselves.  I'm still on a bit of an Oreo cookie kick and have been noodling on how to make brownies even more decadent.  For this one, I not only did an Oreo cookie crust again but I also added a thin layer of caramel between the Oreo cookie crust and the brownie.  Not to mention adding chunks of Oreo cookies to the brownie itself.  Can't have too much of a good thing.  And if you really want to get super freaky with the cookies 'n' cream theme, serve these with a scoop of Cookies n Cream ice cream, with rivulets of hot fudge and chunks of Oreo cookies on top.  Oh yeah.

The original recipe is as is below.  My modifications: I made a half recipe of just the brownies without the recipe topping and baked them in a 9 x 9-inch pan.  For the Oreo cookie crust, I used 1/2 to 2/3 of a 16.6-ounce package of Oreos (er, more or less, not counting the ones I ate while I was putting these together), pulverized them to crumbs in my food processor, added 4 tablespoons of melted butter and 1 teaspoon of vanilla and patted into a firm, even layer in a foil-lined 9" square pan.  I spread a thin layer of caramel (amount is up to you: melt caramels with a bit of milk until of a spreadable consistency) over the cookie crust, chopped up chunks of more Oreos to add to the brownie batter then spread the batter brownie in the pan, covering the caramel layer completely.

Because the brownies were relatively thick, I baked these for around 40-45 minutes in my oven.  The edges came out with moist crumbs and the middle was still a little liquid which normally meant I should leave them in longer but I took them out anyway, trusting that they would firm up when cool.  Uh, I was wrong.  They turned out to be a little too underbaked, even for me, so I put them back into the oven in the hopes of salvaging them.  I was only marginally successful.  I underestimated how moist the caramel would make the brownies and how much longer I should've baked brownies of this thickness.  And the second baking made the top crust more pronounced.  Some people like a top crust on their brownies but I don't.  These were good but could've been better if I had baked them long enough the first time.  That's a lesson learned for next time.  Always trust the toothpick test.

1 pound (4 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

4 cups granulated sugar

8 large eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

2 cups all-purpose flour

¾ cup cocoa powder

½ teaspoon salt

1 ¼ cups semisweet chocolate chips

1 ½ cups chopped walnuts, optional

Topping

12 ounces (3 sticks) unsalted butter, softened

1 ¼ cups dark brown sugar, packed

¾ cup heavy cream

3 cups sweetened shredded coconut

1 cup chocolate chips, M&Ms or Sno-Caps

1.       Preheat the oven to 350⁰F. 

2.       Lightly grease the sides and bottom of a 12 x 16 x 3-inch pan.  In addition, line the bottom of the pan with parchment paper.

3.       Cream butter and sugar together.  Add eggs, one at a time, mixing well after each addition.  Add vanilla extract.

4.       Sift together flour, cocoa powder and salt.  Add to the butter mixture and mix on low speed until combined.

5.       Fold in chocolate chips and walnuts, if using.

6.       Spread evenly in prepared pan.  Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until a skewer comes out with a few moist crumbs.  Let the pan cool completely on a wire rack.

7.       To make the topping: In the bowl of an electric mixer at medium speed, cream butter and dark brown sugar until light.

8.       Add heavy cream and coconut and mix at low speed, until just combined.

9.      Spread the coconut mixture evenly over the cooled brownie.  Broil until the top is browned.

10.   While still hot, sprinkle the top with the chocolate chips, M&Ms or Sno-Caps.

11.    Refrigerate overnight.  Cut into 2-inch squares to serve.