Disappearing Brownies

These are quite possibly the best fudge brownies I've ever made. They have this wonderful crispy top that adds an unexpected crunch to this otherwise very fudgy treat!
I do still love the old brownie recipe that I've used for years but something about not having to chop up chocolate (I always thought that was such a PITA) is really refreshing!

Hubby's aunt actually gave me the recipe - she found it in one of those in-flight magazines on her plane trip over Christmas (lol - of all places to find a new favourite recipe!) Unfortunately, I never found out which airline the magazine was from so that's the best I can do for a reference. Given that, I probably shouldn't be blogging these but they were so fantastic, I have to share them! ;)

These got the name since we made a pan and they disappeared within 30 minutes! I don't think the poor things had time to cool completely! :) Needless to say, we made another batch the next day (they are really easy to make). There was a joke going around that if you leave the clean, empty brownie pan out on the counter, more brownies magically appear overnight. Yeah, don't we wish! :)

I haven't tried this yet (believe me, it's on the to-bake list), but I think these would be really easy to convert to a vegan brownie recipe. As far as I can tell, all you'd have to do is to change the butter into 4 cups of non-hydrogenated vegan spread (Earth Balance is my fave) and the eggs to any egg substitute (4 eggs worth). Since they are bars, the egg subs should be pretty easy - you could use ground flax and water, Ener-G egg replacer and water, smushed up silken tofu, applesauce, bananas, or (one I've never tried but am rather intrigued by) vinegar and baking soda.

No photo, sorry! Darn things disappeared too fast! But, hey, that's just another excuse for me to make these again (and to try some of the add-ins I listed below!) :)

Ingredients:
1 cup unsalted butter, melted (2 sticks)
2/3 cup unbleached flour
2 cups granulated sugar
4 large eggs (at room temperature)
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
Feel free to add in walnuts, pecans, chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, chopped up Heath bars (yum!), toffee bits, dried fruits, etc... (or any combination of those ingredients! I'd say 1/2 cup to 1 cup total would do it)

Ooh, how yummy would these be if you subbed in pure peppermint extract for the vanilla and then crushed up some peppermint candies and added those in? :) I also have to try this base for amaretto brownies.

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Grease a 9-inch by 9-inch baking pan. I like to rub the butter wrappers on the pan so nothing is wasted. Dust the buttered pan with a little flour.

2. Whisk the sugar and melted butter together in a large bowl. Add in the eggs one at a time and then the vanilla extract.

3. In a separate bowl, blend together the flour, baking powder, cocoa, and salt. Add this mixture to the sugar and butter mixture and stir just until blended (do not overmix).

4. Spread the brownie mixture into the prepared pan. Bake 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Reference:
Oops.. see note above. Thank you airline magazine! And DH's aunt! :) I have a feeling it may have been United... or US Airways (DH might know so I may be back to update this)
The ideas for adding in all the nuts, chips, etc., subbing in the peppermint, and making these vegan were my own. At least nobody can sue me for that part! ;) Thank you to Colleen Patrick-Goudreau and her book The Joy of Vegan Baking for the baking soda and vinegar egg substitute idea.

Amaretto Brownies, Take II (Fudge)

Those amaretto brownies I made last week were really good but I do really prefer fudge brownies to the more cake-like ones :) So, I have decided to give them another shot! I was actually going to make them tonight but discovered I had frozen my leftover almond paste so those will have to wait! I'm just going to do some kind of combination of my regular brownie recipe and the amaretto brownie recipe and see what I come up with. I hope they turn out OK! I'll come back tomorrow after I make them and let you know how they turn out/post the recipe if they are actually blog-worthy! And if not, then I still have the good cake amaretto brownies :)

Update (Wednesday): They worked!! Woohoo!! :) These are so good, even better than the cake ones which is what I hoped/suspected.
Here is the recipe I used/created for the fudge amaretto brownies:

Ingredients:
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate, cut up
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter
1 cup sugar
1/4 cup almond paste
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1 tbsp. amaretto
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
2/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8- or 9-inch square pan.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter, chocolate, and almond paste over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3. Blend in sugar, vanilla, and amaretto. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in salt, baking powder, and flour.

4. Bake 20-25 minutes until the brownies are set in the center (test with a toothpick). Be sure not to overbake them. Allow the brownies to cool and cut into squares. If desired, you can spread or drizzle the cooled brownies with the fudge glaze.

Enjoy! I bet these would be really good with a cup of coffee that has some amaretto stirred into it!

Amaretto Brownies

I usually make these very fudgy chocolate brownies which I think are the best brownies I've ever tasted... might be a bit biased, but they are damn good! Anyway, being the huge brownie fan that I am, I have been on this "must find new brownie recipes" kick lately. I'm also a huge amaretto fan (well, almonds in general fan) so you can imagine my excitement when I found this! I almost started turning cartwheels down the hallway! ;) That would be quite a sight - I think I haven't done a cartwheel since I was 14...
Anyway, these are a little more on the cake brownie side, but they are still really good! DH tried one and said "wow, did you put a whole bottle of amaretto in these things?!" No, honey, that's just 2 tbsp. and a big hunk of almond paste! ;) Yes, I was eating the almond paste straight from the tube.. maybe it's a good thing that stuff is $8 for a tiny little tube! Prevent me from eating it so much!

This will make 48 brownies - I actually cut the recipe in half which is usually not a good idea! However, seemed to work Ok for these!

Ingredients:
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup butter
1/2 of an 8-ounce tube of almond paste (works out to be about 1/2 cup)
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
2 eggs
2 tbsp. amaretto or milk (now who on earth will sub milk for amaretto?! If you do have to sub milk, you could maybe add some almond extract to it...)
1 tsp. vanilla
1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1 tsp. aluminium-free baking powder
1/4 tsp. baking soda
1 cup milk
Optional: fudge frosting (I'll make sure I post the recipe I use) and some chopped almonds to use as a topping

Method:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
1. Grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan and set it aside. In a pan, heat the sugar, butter, almond paste, and cocoa powder over medium heat until the butter is melted. I also used a wooden spoon to "smush" the almond paste around until it was all melted, too. Remove from the heat and cool slightly (we are not going for amaretto scrambled eggs here!) Add the eggs, amaretto, and vanilla; beat with a wooden spoon just until combined.

2. Combine flour, baking powder, and baking soda. Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively to the chocolate mixture, beating after each addition.

3. Pour the batter into the prepared pan. Bake for 20 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean (mine needed about 23 mins). Cool on a wire rack for 2 hours. If desired, frost with fudge frosting and sprinkle with chopped or sliced almonds. Cut into bars.

Reference:
I found this in the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book.
Better Homes and Gardens Test Kitchen (1996). Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book. Meredith Publishing Group: Des Moines, IA.

Brownies

I decided today (July 17) it has just been too long since I've made brownies! I had all the stuff I needed in the house so I decided to go for it. I actually found a bunch of new brownie recipes I want to try - amaretto brownies (I'd be making those now if I had almond paste!), mint brownies, some kind of raspberry and chocolate brownies... yum! I also need to try making some blondies very soon. Can't believe I've never done those.
Trying a little twist on my old stand-by recipe from below by adding in some chocolate chips (semi-sweet). I have a recipe which you can add walnuts to (1 cup) but hubby is not a huge nut fan so I'm just going to add 1 cup of chocolate chips to my recipe. Hopefully it will work the way I plan! :)

See below for an optional fudge glaze!

Ingredients:
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 oz. unsweetened chocolate
1 cup sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
2/3 cup all-purpose flour

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease and lightly flour the bottom only of an 8- or 9-inch square pan.

2. In a large saucepan, melt the butter and chocolate over low heat, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and cool slightly.

3. Blend in sugar and vanilla. Beat in eggs one at a time. Stir in salt, baking powder, and flour. Pour mix into the prepared baking pan.

4. Bake 20-25 minutes until set in center (do not overbake). Allow it to cool on a wire rack. Spread with optional fudge glaze (see below), cut into squares, enjoy!

Fudge Glaze
Ingredients:
1 oz. unsweetened chocolate
3 tbsp. butter
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1-3 tbsp. warm milk

Method:
Melt butter and chocolate in a small saucepan. Blend in sugar and vanilla with a wire whisk. Add enough milk to make a smooth, spreadable glaze.