Brownies by Baked Bakery NY

I’ve recently gone on a bit of a brownie craze.

For some reason I’ve started researching brownie recipes from anywhere I can get a hold of them – books, online, magazines, friends/family – and started making tables of ingredients and a list of those which I want to try.  So far I have 20 in my ‘to bake’ list.  I’m not really sure why I’ve begun this but I think it’s partly to do with the fact that I’m looking for a particular taste.  Or maybe a particular sensation.

It’s that intense chocolately hit delivered in a dense and moist morsel.  I think this is my ideal of how a brownie should taste like is, and that is what I’m hoping to find in these recipes I’ve collated. 

I had to make these first as I’d heard so much about them online.  They were really hyped as being one of the best brownies out there and it was also an opportunity to bake something from the book Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito.  A book I’ve had for quite a while but haven’t baked anything from yet.

I would definitely classify these as a more cakey brownie.  The crumb is moist, dense and squidgy but not so much as to be labelled fudgy and certainly not gooey.  It’s not ‘heavy’ as such, but still satisfies any chocolate craving you might have.   It cuts very well, even when slightly warm and the top developed a nice, thin but crisp crust. 

The recipe specifies to add a tsp of instant espresso powder.  I feel that when the use of coffee in a chocolate dessert is there for the purposes of enhancing the chocolate flavour then that is solely what it should do – enhance the chocolatiness and not impart any obvious flavour of its own.  The amount of coffee flavour here unfortunately does more than play the role of intensifying the chocolate taste.  It comes through strongly enough to be classed as a flavour on its own.  I personally feel that this detracts from the enjoyment of consuming the brownie, which should be rich, dense and full of deep dark chocolate flavour. 

Although I receive a good hit of chocolate, there’s definitely a hint of a mocha vibe going on which I’m not too keen on.  I would decrease the amount of espresso flavour down to at least ½ tsp to see if it is needed.  Apart from that it is a very good brownie which delivers on chocolate taste, denseness and richness with a lovely crisp crust.  I baked them for 25 minutes rather than the specified 30, and am glad I did – I think very slightly under baking them saves the texture from being too cakey and ‘done’.

The Baked Brownie

·         190g/1 ¼ cups plain flour

·         1 tsp salt

·         2 tbsp cocoa powder

·         310g/11oz dark chocolate (60-70% cacao), coarsely chopped

·         225g/1 cup unsalted butter

·         1tsp instant espresso powder

·         300g/1 ½ cups granulated sugar

·         100g/½ cup light brown sugar

·         5 eggs, room temperature

·         2 tsp vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 180C, prepare a 9”x13” baking tin.

Combine the flour, salt and cocoa powder together in a medium bowl.  Melt the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder on a bain marie (double boiler) until the chocolate and butter are completely melted.

Turn the heat off and add the sugars while the bowl is still sitting on the hot water and whisk until well combined.  Take the bowl from the heat and leave until room temperature before adding in the 3 eggs.  Add in the vanilla and whisk until well combined but don’t overmix at this stage.

Fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture with a spatula until just a wee bit of flour mixture can be seen.

Smooth the batter into the baking tin and bake for 30 minutes, rotating the tin halfway through the baking time.  Do not exceed 30 minutes.

Slice when cooled down.

 

Banana, Caramel and Chocolate Ganache Tart

Admittedly this wasn’t the prettiest of tarts I’ve had but God was it tasty!

I still have that problem of surplus shortcrust pastry in the freezer so this was another sweet way of using it up.

Please do not do what I did and cut the pastry before putting it into the oven.  The rolled out pastry should hang over the sides of the flan tin and this extra should be trimmed off after it has been baked because pastry does and will shrink in the oven.

I know this.  I really do but I still cut it. Why?  Because I’m greedy.  That’s why.  I wanted the extra bits of pastry to make into cheesy twists, that’s why.  And they were so nice and cheesy that it was worth it.  Almost.

Try not to trim the pastry until after it’s baked.  Unless you’re like me and can’t resist cheesy twists.

This is a very easy tart to make but as with most tarts, a bit ‘stagey’.  You have to blind bake the pastry first, allow it to cool slightly then pour in the ganache and allow it to set before you can start layering on the bananas and caramel. 

Everything came from a tub.  Including the caramel and even, I admit, the crème Chantilly which is something I make at home often as its one of the best ways to utilise a vanilla pod.  But again this was rushing against time as I was taking this over to a relative’s house for dessert after dinner.  In situations like that convenience wins every time for me.  But do be careful and mindful of my advice on the pastry, it should really be trimmed after being baked.

This tart is very satisfying with its combination of fresh bananas and luxurious chocolate.  I love the taste and smell of freshly sliced bananas, there is something so refreshing but sweet about it.  I deliberately made the ganache sweet by using half milk chocolate because the shortcrust pastry I was using was the unsweetened kind.  The ganache is also made with single cream which is why the ratio of chocolate needed to be more than the cream otherwise it just wouldn’t set very well.  There’s almost a saucy consistency to the ganache at room temperature which is why it is best to chill it well before adding the bananas.

Banana, Caramel and Chocolate Ganache Tart

·         500g shortcrust pastry

·         300ml single cream

·         200g dark chocolate

·         200g milk chocolate

·         2 bananas, chopped into slices diagonally

·         4 tbsp caramel, from a bottle or homemade (whatever you have to hand)

·         500g crème Chantilly, from a tub (or made by mixing together 500g double cream, one vanilla pod and 50g icing sugar)

Preheat oven to 200C, grease your tart tin.  I used a 14 x 4.5” (36 x 12cm) rectangular tin but you can also use a standard 9” round tin.

Roll the pastry out to roughly the shape of your tart tin.  Make sure it is not too thick, about 3-5mm is about ok and also try to make it consistently thick throughout.

Line your tart tin with the pastry, allow the extra pastry to ‘dangle’ over the edges of the tin but don’t trim to size just yet.  If the pastry is really excessively more than the tin and difficult to handle then cut it a little so that it is easier to manage. 

Prick the base all over with a fork.  Line with greaseproof paper or foil, fill with baking beans (or rice) and bake for about 20 minutes, then remove the baking beans and foil and bake for another 15 minutes until done (remember that this is the only baking stage so make sure your pastry is properly done and not raw – if it needs another 10 minutes then bake it further).  Allow to cool.

Make the ganache by breaking up the chocolate into pieces and placing in a medium bowl, then bringing the single cream to just before a boil.  When you start to see the bubbles on the edge, take the cream off the heat and pour over the chocolate.  Leave for a minute to allow the cream to heat the chocolate.  Then, using a smaller whisk if you have one, gently start stirring the mixture from the middle.  Don’t use very large or vigorous motions just yet.  Let the chocolate and cream emulsify with gentle small circles, keeping to the middle of the bowl, before whisking properly.  Allow to cool slightly.

Pour the ganache into the pastry case and chill in the fridge for about 2 hours (I put mine in the freezer for about 40 minutes).

Slice the bananas and place them over the now set ganache.  Drizzle over the caramel, then spoon or pipe over the crème Chantilly.