Really Outrageous Brownies

Never has a recipe, IMHO, had a more fitting title...this week's Barefoot Blogger recipe is Ina Garten's "Outrageous Brownies". And friends let me tell you...outrageous they indeed are.

In my busy little corner of the world I am frequently able to convince myself that a boxed brownie mix delivers a "homemade", melt in your mouth chocolaty treat. That is until I make the effort to prepare a "from scratch" version and then I know I'm simply fooling myself...a boxed mix just can't compare to the results that a recipe like this gives you...fudgy, rich and really melt in your mouth chocolaty-ness.

I made only one slight alteration to the recipe and that was to use half semi-sweet chocolate chips and half bittersweet (60% Cacao) chips. The bittersweet chips give an extra richness. The hardest part about this recipe, which the Food Network classified as difficult, is melting the chocolate. Chocolate can be very temperamental...I have tossed many a bowlful of seized chocolate and let me tell you as delicious as correctly melting chocolate smells, burnt chocolate is a horrendous smell! In my opinion it's not worth the risk to melt (often expensive) chocolate in the microwave-make the extra effort and melt it over a double boiler or as I do in a bowl over a pot of simmering water.

Stonewall Kitchen sells the boxed version of this recipe I would love to hear if anyone has ever tried both the boxed version and the homemade version...do they compare? Ina's recipe below says that it makes 20 large brownies, I usually cut them a great deal smaller for about 48 brownies.

FYI the Barefoot Bloggers are a group of bloggers devoted to preparing 2 of Ina Garten's (aka The Barefoot Contessa) recipes each month.

Outrageous Brownies
Copyright (c) 1999 by Ina Garten
Makes 20 Large Brownies “Inspiration for this recipe came from the Chocolate Glob in the SoHo Charcuterie Cookbook published by William Morrow in 1982. In its heyday, the SoHo Charcuterie was the cutting edge of New York restaurants. The giant confection was a blob of chocolate dough filled with chocolate chips and nuts. I though I could make a brownie with almost the same formula. They’ve been flying out the door for fifteen years!”
-Ina Garten

1 pound unsalted butter
1 pound plus 12 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
6 ounces unsweetened chocolate
6 extra-large eggs
3 tablespoons instant coffee granules
2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups sugar
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
3 cups chopped walnuts

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter and flour a 12 x 18 x 1-inch baking sheet.

Melt together the butter, 1 pound of the chocolate chips, and the unsweetened chocolate in a medium bowl over simmering water. Allow to cool slightly. In a large bowl, stir (do not beat) together the eggs, coffee granules, vanilla, and sugar. Stir the warm chocolate mixture into the egg mixture and allow to cool to room temperature.

In a medium bowl, sift together 1 cup of flour, the baking powder, and salt. Add to the cooled chocolate mixture. Toss the walnuts and 12 ounces of chocolate chips in a medium bowl with 1/4 cup flour, then add them to the chocolate batter. Pour onto the baking sheet.

Bake for 20 minutes, then rap the baking sheet against the oven self to force the air to escape from between the pan and the brownie dough. Bake for about 15 minutes, until a toothpick comes out clean. Do not over bake! Allow to cool thoroughly, refrigerate, and cut into 20 large squares.

Notes: Flouring the chips and walnuts keeps them for sinking to the bottom. It is very important to allow the batter to cool well before adding the chocolate chips, or the chips will melt and ruin the brownies. This recipe can be baked up to a week in advance, wrapped in plastic, and refrigerated.

Mini Brownie Bites

The Superbowl isn't just about appetizers your party needs a sweet ending. Today-Favorite Food Find Friday-is not really about a food exactly it's about something that you use to cook food. Today's favorite find is.....

Wilton's new Bite-Sized Brownie Squares-an awesome silicone baking pan that creates perfectly uniform bite sized brownies!

Embarrassingly this is my first time using a silicone baking pan; I was for some reason immediately drawn to it in the store and It was pretty good. I baked the brownies, cooled them and then easily popped out my bites! No messy brownie slicing required and a perfectly uniform result.

I followed a recipe that I found on All Recipes by Eagle Condensed Milk and while the result is tasty it was a bit labor intensive. The original recipe was for brownie bites-made by using a melon baller to shape bite-sized brownies (which I also made). The instructions called for "dipping" the brownies into the melted chocolate, but I really found it difficult to "dip" the chocolate-it was rather thick-so I just spread it on with a small spatula. I then decorated the bites with a butter cream frosting. While they look OK, I have learned that cake decorating is not my thing.

I'm hoping to score a field goal at least with these tasty hand held treats!

Mini Elegant Brownie Bars

adapted from All Recipes

1 (19.8 ounce) package brownie mix

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

8 ounces semi-sweet chocolate

1 teaspoon butter

1 teaspoon vanilla

Butter cream:

1/4 cup shortening

1/4 cup butter, softened

2 cups powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1-2 tablespoons milk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray brownie square pan and an additional small baking pan with cooking spray. Prepare the brownie mix as directed on the box. Spoon a tablespoonful into each brownie square section in the pan. Pour any additional batter into the additional small pan. Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes or until a cake tester inserted in the center of each brownie square comes out clean. Allow brownies to cool before popping out of brownie square pan.

For the brownies cooked in the extra small pan, use a melon baller and scoop the brownies into small rounds.

In a medium saucepan heat the sweetened condensed milk over medium heat. Add the chocolate and stir until melted. Stir in the butter and vanilla. Keeping the chocolate warm, dip the brownies into the chocolate to coat or spread the chocolate on with a small spatula.

Place brownies on a wire rack to dry. When chocolate is set, decorate with the butter cream.

In a mixing bowl with an electric mixer, beat together the shortening and the butter until smooth and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar 1/2 cup at a time, beating after each addition. Stir in the vanilla and the milk. Transfer butter cream to a decorating bag with desired decorating tip and pipe frosting onto brownies.

Lemonade Poppyseed Icebox Bars

The passing of the great actor Paul Newman makes me sad. I loved his movies, I loved his voice and I loved his steely blue eyes.

Newman food products have long been a favorite in our house. When my kids were little they would get so excited to grab the Newman's Own salad dressing bottles to toss in the supermarket cart because they thought the picture on it was Daddy. No, my husband was not 73 at the time-and he's not even close to 73 now, but with his hair 10 years ago getting that salt and pepper look there may have been a slight resemblance. (Although truth be told my kids at the time also thought the Sun Maid Raisin lady was mommy-maybe they just needed glasses).

Well what's not to love about great tasting food products where the profits go to charity? That has always been an incentive for me when it came to selecting my salad dressing, tomato sauces or lemonades. Today I made a little tribute treat to Paul Newman...lemon poppyseed bars using Newman's Own Lemonade. You can substitute real lemons and add a little lemon zest if you prefer, but I thought the lemonade worked just great...and it's for charity.

Lemonade Poppyseed Icebox Bars

1 1/4 cups flour

2/3 cup sugar

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/3 cup Newman's Own Lemonade

1/3 cup butter, room temperature

2 eggs

1 tablespoon poppy seeds

Creamy Lemonade Frosting:

8 ounces whipped cream cheese

1 1/2 cups confectioner's sugar

2 tablespoons Newman's Own Lemonade

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Lightly spray a 13x9 inch baking pan with cooking spray.

In a large mix bowl, combine the flour, sugar, baking, salt lemonade, butter and eggs; beat until well combined, about 2 minutes. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 25-30 minutes or until edges are golden brown and the center springs back slightly when pressed. Allow to completely cool on a rack before frosting.

To prepare the frosting, using an electric mixer beat together the cream cheese, sugar and lemonade until light and fluffy. Frost the cooled cake; chill in the refrigerator for at least an hour before cutting into bars.

Yield: 24 bars

Lazy Raspberry Picking

I wish that I was not so lazy.

It's a beautiful day here in New England-a tad hot-but beautiful. If I wasn't so lazy I would take my kids (one is away at Intelligence and National Security Camp-how scary is that? So I have only 2 this week) berry picking. But quite honestly the thought of being on my knees-or worse squatting and sifting through buggy plants to find "perfect" berries seems daunting. Do you see what I mean? I realize that I am just plain lazy...but, when I know that I can run to the supermarket where someone has done all the work for me It's just too easy to be lazy. I am "picking" in a way...I have to pick the best looking container-no moldy ones, just plump juicy ones. And I'm in air-conditioned comfort while I'm doing it. Lazy.

Honestly I would rather spend my lazy summer day baking something.

So I grabbed some (supermarket purchased) raspberries (they were organic, just for the record) and decided to make some Bittersweet Chocolate Raspberry Brownies. These brownies are a tad more cake-like than fudgy, so if you like your brownies "fudgier" try cutting the flour a bit-we like our brownies a little more cakey. Now just a warning here-these are not your run of the mill uber-sweet Duncan Hines variety. These brownies are definitely bittersweet. If you like them a little sweeter, you can up the sugar a bit-but I think served warm and dusted lightly with a sprinkling of powdered sugar and some fresh raspberries alongside they are just right.

Bittersweet Chocolate Raspberry Brownies

Butter and unsweetened cocoa powder

6 ounces good quality bittersweet chocolate (I used Scharffen Berger 70% cacao)

4 tablespoons unsalted butter (1/2 stick)

3 large eggs, room temperature

1/4 cup confectioner's sugar, plus additional for dusting

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 cup all purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups fresh raspberries

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly butter a 9x9 inch baking pan and then dust lightly with unsweetened cocoa powder.

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a medium sized bowl over a pot of simmering water. (If your microwave has a chocolate melting setting-which my new one does-you may use that). Allow the chocolate to cool for 10 minutes.

In a large mixing bowl combine the eggs, 1/4 cup of confectioner's sugar and the vanilla. Using an electric mixer, beat until light and fluffy. Stir in the flour, baking powder and the salt. Add the melted chocolate and mix just until well combined. Using a spatula, gently fold in the raspberries. Spread the batter into the prepared pan. Bake in the center of the oven for 40 minutes or until a toothpick or cake tester inserted in the center comes out clean.

Allow to cool in the pan before cutting into squares to serve. Lightly dust squares with confectioner's sugar before serving.