My daughter Lauren had a craving for something baked but wasn’t sure what. She just planted the seed, left for work and left it up to me. So I had a craving, I made brownies. This recipe is from Chef Michael Smith and is a super easy, super fantastic, super tasting brownie. Really super, I mean it.
I had bought one of those brownie tins with the insert – so the pieces are cut, evenly for Lauren (who on occasion, loves to bake) a few years back but it sat in our cupboard until today. It’s a 7x12x2 tin. Although Michael recommended a 9x13x2, because I also wanted to experiment with the one bite brownie size for the catering side of my business, I wanted to have some left over to fill mini muffin tins. Hence my using the smaller size tin. Baking times were less of course – the 7×12 baked in 20-22 minutes at 350f and the mini muffin tins 15-18 minutes. You have to use a toothpick to determine doneness. The times above are just guidelines – a myriad of things effect baking time so just know that the minimum time is the one to start testing at. Including the cleanup time, 45 minutes (no mixers were used in the making of these brownies).
I also used a combination of dark and milk chocolate in about even proportions – dark chocolate, Cassis flavored dark chocolate and milk chocolate. Added some walnuts to the ones I baked in the muffin tins as well. The last picture was done just for presentation. I sliced some of the Brownies in a Biscotti style (okay, it’s really just the ends of the brownie that I cut off to make cutting into squares easier, but it just looked so nice I couldn’t resist thinking of this as a piece of biscotti. Next time I double bake them). Really just use your imagination. Pictures follow at different stages of the process – Enjoy! (My comments in italics below.)
Ingredients
8 ounces dark chocolate (about 226 g)
1 cup Butter
1 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch salt
4 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
1 tablespoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup chocolate chips
Instructions
Preheat your oven to 350°F (180°C).
To protect the chocolate from direct heat, melt it and the butter in a heatproof bowl set over a small pot of simmering water, stirring constantly. When the chocolate and butter have melted, whisk until smooth.
While the chocolate mixture cools slightly, whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder and salt. Add the eggs, sugar and vanilla to the chocolate and mix thoroughly. Stir in the flour mixture and chocolate chips until incorporated.
Pour batter into a lightly oiled and floured 9 x 13-inch (3.5 L) pan. I poured 2/3 of the batter into the smaller tin and smoothed it out, and in the remaining 1/3, I added a handful of crushed walnuts, mixed it well and using a large teaspoon (I don’t know where these came from, but they are in between a regular sized teaspoon and a table spoon), filled it half way and put it into the muffin tin.
Bake for exactly 25 minutes if using a 9×13 – use my guidelines above if your pan is a different size.
Surely things of beauty. Just a bit firm on the outside, cakey inside which nicely offsets the firmer outside. These plated bite sized brownies won’t last long. Notice the tooth pick hole made when I inserted it into the brownie to test for doneness. Remember the baking times are guidlines, check at the minimum time and you will never overcook your treats.
Whenever you bake multiple items like these mini muffin brownies, the tin sometimes holds back from release, one piece (sometimes more). This isn’t a bad thing? I look at it as the sampler piece. Something for the Chef to try. Enjoy!
