French Chocolate Brownies

This week's challenge from Tuesdays with Dorie, brought a delightful rendition of a fudgy French inspired brownie. TWD members weekly bake a gorgeous Greenspan treat, worthy of any high end bakery, but for at least half the cost. It's a great way to save pennies, celebrate life, and hone your baking skills. There's always plenty to share, so your neighbors are sure to grovel... Dorie's brownie of today called for flambeed rum soaked raisins, which were deftly omitted to make them more appealing to my two little charges and their cousins. I'm always making changes for mass appeal. I can't run the risk of eating anything alone.

Come to think of it, a good name for my baking blog could be "Half Nuts; a Metaphor for Family Life." Everything I bake around here has, well, you know...half nuts. I credit the kids for the splintered baking and the fractured insanity.

Now, after you try Dorie's fudgy brownie version, I must put a plug in for my own brownie. I like them fudgy and cakey because I'm hard to please, wishy-washy, a perfectionist, and greedy. I hope you'll love me in spite of all that. I've tried so many brownie recipes and I like almost all of them, but "Old Fashioned Buttermilk Brownies" remains my hands-down classic favorite.

Anyway you slice it, you can't miss with warm from the oven brownies made from scratch.

French Chocolate Brownies

Estimated Cost: about $6.00 (depending on chocolate price) for 16

Notes:I omitted the rum, raisins, and cinnamon, and added some walnuts sprinkled on top. I also baked it in a pie dish, since my 8 inch square is out on loan.

Ingredients
1/2 cup all-purpose flour

1/8 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)

1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden

1 1/2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

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.
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.

Coming Tomorrow:

Sesame Lime Pork Noodles; a Pork Chop Leftover Bonus