TWD: Alternate....Quintuple Chocolate Brownies.

So for this week on TWD...Miss Tara from Smells like Home chose Madeleines for her pick of the week. The TWD organizers, recognizing that not everyone may want to purchase a madeleine pan, offered another option, to do a previous recipe.

Since I just joined a few weeks ago, I was more than jazzed to make something that was done previous to my joining. The decision was just to figure out what.

Well..it wasn't THAT hard. I was torn between Raisin Brioche Snails or the heart-attack inducing Quintuple Chocolate Brownies. The brownies picture in the book made you practically want to lick the page.

So I made the brownies. I put in Kahlua instead of coffee...hey that's WAY more fun right?! The recipe calls for FIVE types of chocolate, hence the quintuple. 4 in the brownie and one for the top. I used a 60% bitter, a 73% dark, a 100% unsweetened and then the cocoa powder.




All Soft and Melty

I also swirled a cream cheese mixture through the brownies, inspired by Erin's from Dinner & Dessert's beautiful cream cheese brownies..which added a fun visual element to them when cut...but mine were only visible when cut due to the glaze on top.



My toppings had variations too. The recipe calls for a crazy amount of white chocolate for the glaze and I only had half required, so I melted the chocolate with heavy cream and glazed 1/2 the brownies. The other 1/2...I glazed with a cappucino Kahlua chocolate cream.



The glaze was really just that, a thin glaze. In the book the picture of the glaze is like a thick layer of chocolate. I think next time I'd have to do a different method of glazing, aka maybe still in the pan to get that perfect layer without oozage.



These things were RICH RICH RICH. I cut them into tiny squares, more like 1x1 and it was just enough. Random note...raspberries work wonderfully with these super rich tasties, the tartness of the berry and the amazingly sweet brownie, oooh lip puckering.



The recipe for this week's Madeleine's can be found on Tara's site. I've posted the brownie recipe below. Next week is some yummy pecan raisin brioche item that I am excited to try.



Quintuple Chocolate Brownies
From Baking from My Home To Yours

Brownies:
1/2c all purpose flour
1/4c unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
3 ounces bittersweet or semi sweet chocolate, chopped
2 tablepsoons strong coffee
1c sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
6 ounces premium-milk chocolate, chopped, or chips
1c chopped nuts

Glaze:
6 ounces premium white chocolate, chopped or 1c chips
1/3c heavy cream

Preheat oven to 325. Ready your pan, I used a 8" square..recipe calls for 9" but I wouldn't use a 9 as these would be too flat! I put in a piece of long parchment on the bottom that stuck out the sides so I could easily lift the brownie block out when done. Sift together flour, cocoa, salt in one bowl.

Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of simmering water, add chocolate, butter, coffee. Warm until butter and chocolate are melted. Stir gently, when smooth and melted, remove for 5 minutes.

Beat the sugar into the chocolate mixture, don't beat too heavily. Next, stir in the eggs one at a time. Followed by vanilla. Batter should be glossy and smooth. Use spatula to stir in dry ingredients, mixing only til incorporated. Stir in milk chocolate and nuts. Scrape batter into pan (if you do the cream cheese swirl method, now is the time to layer in the swirl, see below).

Bake for 30-35 minutes depending on size of pan. Knife tester should not come out clean, streaked but not coated..means they are ready. Transfer to cooling rack, let cool ~30 minutes before unmolding from the pan. Note..I would leave them in the pan and glaze IN the pan so that you get that nice thick layer like in Dorie's book vs unmolding onto a rack then glazing...depends on if you want a thick straight layer or a dripped glaze like mine.

To make the glaze, melt the white chocolate and cream in a double broiler or microwave. Glaze brownies. Cool in fridge for 20 minutes to 2 hours to harden glaze. Once cold these things turn into blocks of heavy chocolate, so I'd let come to room temp before serving. Cut and serve.

Variation: For cream cheese swirl, mix a block of softened cream cheese with 1/4c sugar and 1 egg yolk til soft. Pour 1/2 brownie batter in, drop cream cheese mixture in 4 areas then swirl in with a knife. Repeat with 2nd layer, finish with cream cheese swirls. My cream cheese was not as visible in all the brownies when baked, maybe due to the high chocolate or the glaze...but I'd do thicker swirls next time.



Recipe Notes: I dropped sugar to 3/4c and used Kahlua instead of coffee. Also for the glaze I did a cappucino and cream one using Ghiradelli cappucino chips and cream with Kahlua. Play around a little! You could even swirl Nutella into the brownies instead of cream cheese.