Wednesday, November 28, 2012

Schmee's Favourite Brownies

If I know a true chocoholic, it's my sister. Give her a 70% Aero bar or a bag of bittersweet chips for her pancakes and she's happy! But far from being content to simply nosh on solid bars of the stuff, she prefers her chocolate in baked form - namely cake, frosting, and especially brownies.

When it came time for her to box up her stuff and move back to university, she asked for a couple things to go in her food kit: pasta, boxed mac and cheese, Pringles, and brownie mix. While I can't speak for her taste in cuisine, I did know that there was a recipe in my copy of the Back in the Day Bakery Cookbook that would blow any brownie mix out of the water. I wheedled her to let me please, make her real brownies for once, to trust that I wouldn't put "weird stuff" in them and that they'd be "normal". Finally, she caved - and I got my butt into the kitchen and fired up the oven before she could change her mind!

I broke out the good stuff for these guys, since I was cooking for the Queen of connoisseurs. Seriously - it doesn't matter what she's tasting, if there is the slightest off flavour or texture, it's a no-go. She'd make a killer sommelier, coffee cupper or taste tester if she liked wine, coffee or a variety of food! Callebeaut bittersweet chocolate and a Ghirardelli 100% cacao baking bar made up the base mixture with a good helping of cultured, salted butter, and got bound by Omega-3 organic eggs and just enough oat flour to stick together. Instead of nuts (which are definitely not on the "normal brownie" list), I tossed in some extra chocolate chips. It all came together beautifully, and I popped it in the pan, baked it and crossed my fingers that she would like it.

Well, Schmee (my pet name for her) left for school without tasting them, taking the cut pan with her to share with her housemates. Her first phone call home, though, she waxed poetic to my mom about how good the brownies were, and that I'd have better saved the recipe because she wanted them again! Given that she and her two friends polished off the lot in under a week, I told her to give her body a chance to recover first - they may be delicious, but boy are they rich!

Schmee's Favourite Brownies
Serves 16
1/2 cup salted butter
3/4 cup bittersweet couverture chocolate chips (like Callebaut)
3 oz unsweetened chocolate
2 eggs, beaten
1 tbsp vanilla
2 tbsp hot cocoa mix (pre-sweetened)
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/4 cup oat flour
3/4 tsp baking powder
1/2 cup jumbo chocolate chips
  1. Preheat the oven to 350F and line a 9" square pan with parchment.
  2. In a saucepan or in the microwave, melt the butter, couverture chocolate chips and unsweetened chocolate until smooth. Cool slightly.
  3. Stir in the eggs, vanilla, cocoa mix and sugars until well blended.
  4. Add the flour and baking powder and stir in well.
  5. Fold in the jumbo chocolate chips.
  6. Smooth in the pan, then rap on the countertop to dislodge any bubbles.
  7. Bake 25-28 minutes.
  8. Cool completely, then chill before cutting.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 199.4
Total Fat: 14.0 g
Cholesterol: 38.4 mg
Sodium: 56.7 mg
Total Carbs: 19.9 g
Dietary Fiber: 2.1 g
Protein: 2.5 g

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