Tuesday, June 3, 2008

French Chocolate Brownies

Another Tuesday rolls around, meaning it's time for another Tuesdays with Dorie post. This week's creation is French Chocolate Brownies (given, there's nothing particularly French about these brownies aside from the fact that they were first made by Dorie in France).

I consider any grocery run where I can stop into a Trader Joe's and walk out with a giant stick of chocolate to be a good grocery trip. I'm actually surprised that with all this baking I've been doing lately, I haven't had to buy any until now.

After chopping down the chocolate into fine pieces, it was time to use the bowl-on-pot double broiler method. For some reason, Dorie's wording scared me in this part - I've melted chocolate many times this way before, but she made it seem that if it stayed on for just a few seconds too long, you'd have burnt chocolate everywhere. It didn't give me any troubles, especially not after adding in the butter...I'm just not too sure why she worried about the chocolate burning so badly.

It was time to play with flames again as another batch of rum raisins were made. It's the first time I've heard of raisins being put into brownies, but it definitely came out as a benefit (and I don't even particularly like raisins - I don't not like them, I just don't love them). I added the 1 1/2 T. (homemade) dark rum that Dorie suggests, heated it over medium heat for a while, warned my roommates (who have never seen this before) to not singe their hair, lit the lighter, annnd...nothing. Damn, the heat pulled all the alcohol off already. Well, now I look stupid, and my roommates don't get to see raisins on fire with a blue flame. What to do? Well, add another couple tablespoons, and light it on fire right away, of course! Fortunately, this either didn't affect the brownies, or it may have made them even better - they taste fabulous, with barely a hint of the rum in the brownies themselves.

Baking and everything else via Dorie's recipe went fine. If I were to do this again, I'd have probably thrown some pecans on top, or inside the batter, just because I still have a bunch sitting around the house. After having thrown in the extra rum though, I didn't want to do too much to upset the baking gods. I don't know my boundaries yet!

I let the brownies cool overnight, then cut the mass into 16 2"x2" squares. After stealing a couple of them for a breakfast of champions, and letting my roommates do the same, I stored the rest in tupperware in the freezer - Dorie says they will be fine there for approximately 2 months, and I have a request from family to start storing some of these concoctions for family visits.

Recipe: Baking: From My Home to Yours, Dorie Greenspan, pp. 92-93

28 comments:

noskos said...

Mine never made it to storage :-) Yours look very yummy!

Engineer Baker said...

A good grocery trip is defined by the presence of chocolate in the basket, I definitely agree.

Jules Someone said...

I was all excited about the flames as well. Not quite what I was expecting. Delicious, though!

Bumblebutton said...

TJs chocolate is great--but I buy the little bars wrapped three to a pack. If you whack them on your counter before you open them, half your chopping is done!

Heather B said...

Great job! They look like perfect brownies!

April said...

Oh my! Your brownies look wonderful!

Katrina said...

Yours look great! I agree that nuts would be great in this recipe.

Melissa said...

I love TJ's chocolate selection!

Mari said...

Your roommates are a lucky bunch!

steph- whisk/spoon said...

perfect top crust and nice height! i'm sure your family will be glad you saved some!

Christine said...

Great job! Your brownies look delish!

Anonymous said...

Homemade rum? Did I read that correctly? Cool. Bummer that you couldn't impress your roommates on the first try. I hate it when that happens. Looks great!

Linda said...

TJs is a godsend! The 3.5oz Valrhona bittersweet and semisweet bars and the hunks of gihradelli chocolate, both white and dark, are a great deal! Every week grocery shopping, these items make it into my basket.

Very delicious looking results!

PheMom said...

Your brownies look wonderful! Great job!

Rebecca of "Ezra Pound Cake" said...

Can't wait til TJ opens here in a few months. Nice brownie pics!

Rebecca
http://www.ezrapoundcake.com

Elle said...

Yum! Gorgeous pics, too.

Jayne said...

I didn't get much of a flame either - more like a teeny tiny brief glow and then it was gone. Oh well. Your brownies look great!

Di said...

*sigh* I miss living near a Trader Joes. I haven't even been able to make a trip to somewhere close to one in a long time. Your brownies look fabulous.

CB said...

Extra rum never hurt anyone right? ;) Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

Anonymous said...

Ours are already gone. I never even bring any to work. We haven't learned to share yet at our house. Yours look great. I used up the rest of my dark chocolate on this, so I'll have to make a field trip to Trader Joe's. Darn, I hate when that happens : )
I think I would add some chopped pecans next time.

Jayma said...

Your pictures look great!

Anne said...

Yum, those look good! I love your photo of the batter and the spatula. I bet they would taste good frozen too....

Andrea said...

Great looking brownies. Good of you to save up your sweets to share with family.

ostwestwind said...

I skiped the flaming step, because I made the experience with the raisin snail. Your brownies look beautiful

Ulrike from Küchenlatein

The Kitchen Vixen said...

they look so rich and fudgy! is there a recipe for the homemade rum;)

Amy said...

Great job on the brownies. Yours look delicious!

Anonymous said...

These look scrumptious! I love the last photo of the big slab of brownies!

Jaime said...

i love the first photo! i missed the part about freezing these...apparently they still taste quite good after being frozen; i need to whip up a batch so i can have some on a whim in the future :)