TWD-French Chocolate Brownies

Okay, after looking at tons of different versions of these French Brownies last week, I actually went downstairs, on Tuesday, and threw them together. I couldn't resist, after reading about all the incredible fruit combinations and my brother was here for the day- he said he wanted a treat. No one was disappointed. I added frozen raspberries to the batter, made raspberry coulis and added a little bit of it to some Cool Whip. I used 1 oz bittersweet chocolate, 1 oz semi-sweet and 4 oz of milk chocolate because that is what I had. I baked it in a 8-inch round cake pan and then served it like cake. I turned it upside down (thanks peabody) and it was devoured.












French Chocolate Brownies



Adapted from Baking From My Home to Yours



1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon (optional)
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 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.




Raspberry Coulis



1-2 cups fresh or frozen raspberries, if frozen partially thawed



Place raspberries in blender. Puree and add sugar to taste. Strain seeds out with a strainer.