Friday, November 25, 2011

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies—TWD Rewind

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies

Today for Tuesdays With Dorie, we got to choose any recipe in the book that we wanted as a special rewind week.  That helps a lot when TWD falls so close to a holiday.  So you would think since Thanksgiving is right around the corner I would have picked a pumpkin pie or something perfect like that.  But if you know me, I went straight for the chocolate! ;)  I really just thought I would pick something from the book that I’d missed and these Quintuple Chocolate Brownies were picked the second week after Tuesdays With Dorie began back in January of 2008!  I joined the group in October of that year. 

For the brownies, Dorie’s recipe has five different kinds of chocolate—cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, bittersweet chocolate, milk chocolate and white chocolate!  Whew!  The only thing I wasn’t too sure about with the brownie recipe was the white chocolate ganache that should have been on the top.  I like white chocolate okay, but find it rather overwhelming and too sweet at times, so I switched things up a bit.

I didn’t realize until I started making the brownies that I was out of unsweetened chocolate, but I technically still used five kinds of chocolate—actually six if you count that I also added some chocolate extract!  In place of the unsweetened chocolate, I used a 70% bittersweet chocolate, but lowered the amount of sugar in the brownies slightly.  And instead of a white chocolate ganache on top, I made a ganache with 60% chocolate and put some white chocolate chips in the brownies.   I decided not to add nuts to the batter, but put a toasted pecan on the top of about half of them.  I prefer nuts in brownies, but the boys don’t.  These are, of course, super rich and can be cut pretty small.  They are a very dense brownie with chocolate times five!

Quint Chocolate Brownies

Laurie our fabulous Tuesdays With Dorie leader chose these brownies the second week ever of baking through this cookbook.  I’ve left you the link to the original recipe.  I feel like I made enough changes, so here’s the recipe as I made it.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies, adapted by Katrina, Baking and Boys! from Dorie Greenspan

1/2 cup all purpose flour (60 grams)

1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder (20 grams)

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup (6 ounces) bittersweet/dark chocolate (used 70%), chopped

3/4 cup granulated sugar (150 grams)

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon chocolate extract (optional)

1 cup (6 ounces) milk chocolate chips

1/2 cup (3 ounces) white chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.  Line a 9 inch square pan with foil, spray with cooking spray.  Set the pan on a baking sheet.

Sift together the flour, cocoa and salt.  In the top of a double boiler or a bowl set over a pan with about one inch of simmering water, melt the butter and the bittersweet chocolate.  Heat and stir just until melted and smooth.  Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. 

Stir the sugar into the chocolate mixture until incorporated.  Stir in the eggs one at a time, whisking each one until mixed.  Add the vanilla and stir.  Switch to using a spatula and gently stir in the dry ingredients just until they are incorporated.  Stir in the milk chocolate and white chocolate chips.  Pour the batter into the prepared pan.

Bake for 30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out mostly clean.  Let the brownies cool in the pan on a wire rack.

Make the glaze--

1 cup (6 ounces) semi sweet chocolate (I used 60%), chopped or use chips

1/3 cup heavy cream

Put the chocolate in a medium sized bowl.  Bring the cream just to a boil then pour it over the chocolate.  Wait about 30 seconds, then gently stir with a rubber spatula until the chocolate is melted and smooth.  Let the ganache sit for about 10 minutes to thicken.  Spread it evenly over the brownies.  Chill the brownies for at least 20 minutes, but an hour or two is great! 

Remove the brownies from the pan using the foil edges.  Peel the foil off the brownies and cut into squares on a cutting board. 

Optional **Places toasted pecans on the top of the brownies.

Quintuple Chocolate Brownies 11-21-11--TWD

I took these along with lots of other goodies to our Thanksgiving dinner.  They are super rich and fudgy and were gobbled up quickly.

I wonder what all the others in the TWD bloggers made this week. 

13 comments:

Cupcake Crazy Gem said...

Oh wow these look amazing!

Lisa Ernst said...

Another recipe post after my heart! I would do the same as you and switch from white chocolate to dark for the ganache. Adding the white chips in the brownies is a better idea. Now, here's the question. With five (or six) kinds of chocolate in these, how do they compare to your very favorite brownie recipe?

Curt said...

Now that is truly a brownie! A definite keeper!

Unknown said...

Those look super intense - with six kinds of chocolate, they should be!

Cakelaw said...

Woe, those massive chocolate chunks make me wish I could dig into these gorgeous brownies.

Lauren at Keep It Sweet said...

Those brownies look intense in a very good way!

sue said...

Oh my Gosh! I drooled on m y keyboard!

marla said...

What?! These brownies look crazy great!

Carol said...

Wow, do these look good! I like your version better. I was always crazy about white chocolate, but you are right, it is very sweet and needs to be used sparingly.

Anonymous said...

How could you go wrong with three types of chocolate! wonderful :)
Mary x

Peggy the Baker said...

I like the idea of substituting a different kind of chocolate for the white chocolate glaze. When I make these, I cut them in one inch squares because they are soooooo intense. Your's look lovely!

Natalie said...

i can't get over how fantastic these look! yum!

Lisa said...

With all that chocolate in them, I know these must be one of your favorite treats.