Monday, October 13, 2008

Thanksgiving Brownies

Happy Thanksgiving to all my fellow Canadians out there! This weekend's been a wonderfully busy one, filled with family and friends and (of course) food, and even though I'm glad to have a little break after all the festivities now that it's over, it's a little sad too. The next major get-together slew of things is around Christmas, with my stepfather's birthday and the Catholic Christmas Eve dinner party.

Like I mentioned in my last post, I had dinner at my maternal grandparents' place last night followed by a (substantially larger) party tonight at my dad's new place. While the rest of the family et al dined on "Mount Vesuvius" portions (as my stepdad put it) of turkey, potatoes, and lots and lots of veggies (mmm... veggies), I brought my own meal as per usual - my stellar Vegan Veggie Bake (cue drooling à la Pavlov). Yes, I got some jealous stares, and no, I didn't share it. It may be Thanksgiving, but nobody touches my food! I'm armed with forkage, I tell you!

I didn't come totally empty-handed though. Noooo siree. I brought cakes to both nights' meals, and added some brownie goodness to the party at my dad's place. I mean, really... who can pass up chocolate in any form? The tasters of these brownies (which I later topped with a brown sugar, cornstarch and peanut butter frosting) had nothing but good things to say about them, and I got to explain the workings of sourdough to some could-be-foodies tonight too!

Just like the muffins I made a while back, you don't need a "fed" starter to make these - it's more of an acidity thing than a yeasty-business thing that makes them rise. Melted chocolate makes them nice and rich, especially if you use a good, dark one. I melted down the last bits of my 70% Amedei bar for this, and it looked and smelled sinful.

I'm sending this off to Wild Yeast's YeastSpotting event this week, check it out this Friday for some bready inspiration! Don't forget about Bread Baking Day too, which is this Thursday (the 16th). Tons of bready goodness to be had all around!

Sourdough Brownies
Serves 12
3 oz bittersweet (at least 65%) chocolate
1/3 cup canola oil
1 cup flour
½ tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
2/3 cup brown sugar
1 egg
½ cup (unfed) sourdough starter
2 tsp vanilla


  1. Preheat oven to 375F, and grease a 9" pan.
  2. Melt chocolate and oil in a double boiler over low heat.
  3. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda and salt. Set aside.
  4. Beat together brown sugar, egg, sourdough starter and vanilla, then stir in cooled chocolate mixture.
  5. Stir in flour mixture until just blended.
  6. Spread in prepared pan.
  7. Bake 30 - 35 minutes, or until edge begins to pull away from pan.
  8. Cool completely before cutting and serving.
Amount Per Serving
Calories: 188.3
Total Fat: 9.6 g
Cholesterol: 17.7 mg
Sodium: 10.3 mg
Total Carbs: 25.5 g
Dietary Fiber: 0.9 g
Protein: 2.4 g

4 comments :

  1. What an amazing creation! Gotta love that sourdough--and I've never met a brownie I didn't like! :)

    Sounds like a great Thanksgiving!

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  2. Chocolatey sourdough goodness, what could be better for Thanksgiving?

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  3. These look fantastic..

    I found you site looking for brownie recipes to compare a brownie recipe that was on recipebuddys.com.... Please advise if you can assist... I would like an opinion on the recipe...thank you in advance...

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  4. What a fantastic idea - I can't wait to try it!

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Thanks for the feedback!