Crack-tastic

A quick note: I am guest posting today over at Heidi's blog, HoneyBear Lane. So exciting! Heidi is a fabulous seamstress who makes the most gorgeous quilts, and her blog is full of ideas for revamping your home or clothes, as well of tons other fun inspiration! If you are interested in making a special Little Chapel of Love Birdhouse for your Valentine this year, pop over for my tutorial! There is also a giveaway and a coupon code for my shop, so I promise, you won't be disappointed!

Now back to our regularly scheduled programming...

Chocolate. Brownies. Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts to be exact. Featured on the cover of the latest issue of Bon Appetit magazine and currently circling the foodie blogiverse like the plague. The one recipe that has ever tempted me enough to ban the box and make brownies from scratch. We've talked about this. I don't do brownies from scratch. I'm an underbaked-by-3-minutes-from-the-box kind of girl. A fudgy, gooey, moist and chocolatey brownie kind of girl. The kind that can never be created by from scratch recipe. Until now. Well played, Bon Appetit. Well played.

Cocoa Brownies with Browned Butter and Walnuts
Bon Appetit, Feb. 2011

Ingredients:
Nonstick vegetable oil spray
10 Tbls. unsalted butter, cut into 1 inch pieces
1/4 tsp. salt (generous)
1 1/4 c. sugar
3/4 c. natural unsweetened cocoa powder (spooned into a cup measure and leveled)
2 tsp. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 large eggs, chilled
1/3 c. plus 1 Tbls. unbleached all purpose flour
1 cup walnut pieces

Preparation:
Position rack in the lower 1/3 of oven and preheat to 325 degrees. Line 8x8x2 inch metal pan tightly with foil, leaving a 2 inch overhang, and spray with cooking spray.
Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Cook until foam subsides and browned bits form on the bottom of the pan, about 5 minutes. Remove from heat. Immediately add salt, sugar, cocoa, water, and vanilla, stirring to blend. Let cool 5 minutes.
Add eggs one at a time, beating vigorously between additions. Once mixture looks shiny and thick, stir in flour until blended (about 60 strokes). Stir in nuts and pour into prepared pan.
Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out almost clean (it should have a few sticky crumbs on it). Cool in the pan on a rack. Remove from pan using foil sling and slice into 4 bars. SLice each bar into 4 pieces.

*My notes: Bob Appetit recipes amuse me. They often leave ingredients out of the ingredient list and then toss them into the steps like an afterthought (so it's a good idea to always read a B.A. recipe through before you start!).  When making these brownies, I measured the cocoa, salt, and sugar into a large bowl and set it aside. Then I measured the water and vanilla into a bowl. Once the butter was browned, I poured it into the large bowl of cocoa mix, tossed in the vanilla mix and stirred. I didn't feel like doing that part in a pan. I also do not have an 8x8 metal pan, only a glass one. I used a 9x5 metal pan and had to bake them about 8 minutes longer than called for. Go with your gut here, and you will be rewarded.

These were so incredible, even the next day! Like chocolate crack. All they needed for me to be in total bliss was a scoop of coffee ice cream. Do it.

This post is linked to:
Simple Lives Thursday