TWD: French Chocolate Brownies

I must admit that although these brownies were very good, I was a little disappointed. With “French” in the title, my imagination was hoping that these brownies would be more like a Flourless Chocolate Cake in brownie form.

So, if you are looking for a great, basic brownie, this is a great recipe. They were very fudgy and chocolatey.

French Chocolate Brownies
– makes 16 brownies –
From Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan

Ingredients:
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (I omitted this)
1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden (I omitted this)
1 1/2 tablespoons water (I omitted this)
1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum (I omitted this)
6 ounces bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped
1 1/2 sticks (12 tablespoons; 6 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature and cut into 12 pieces
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar

Getting ready: Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.

Whisk together the flour, salt and cinnamon, if you’re using it.

(I omitted the step below–)
Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates. Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and ignite the rum. Allow the flames to die down, and set the raisins aside until needed.

Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It’s important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you’ve got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them—it’s better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.

Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated—you’ll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds—the dry ingredients won’t be completely incorporated and that’s fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula, then fold in the raisins along with any liquid remaining in the pan.

Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.

Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.

Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they’re even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside—good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!

Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

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34 Comments

  1. I think your brownies look nice and fudgy and delicious! I used the raisins but I love raisins. I didn’t use the rum though, but I did add a hint of artificial rum flavouring. I never quite know if the alcohol all bakes out or not? What do you think? Our Bishop’s wife cooks with it. She says it does.

  2. doing some last minute posting over at my blog. yours look yummy! hehe. and i did omit the raisins too! those seem a little out of place. but they are probably the essence of the ‘french’. *hmph*

  3. Although you were a bit disappointed, your brownies still look fantastic!
    I LOVE your website! I’ve been following it for a while and it is actually what inspired me to join Tuesdays with Dorie!

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