Eli Cooks » chocolate

Crack Brownies

Eli — Mon, 01 Dec 2008 03:57:21 +0000

I saw these in Gourmet a few years back. I was looking for something chocolate for my Christmas party that year. They looked a bit fussy, but also very rich: perfect for the holidays. That first time I made them mostly as shown in the magazine: chocolate and mint. A few hours into the party, people started commenting on the brownies. “What’s in these?” “They’re so good.” “I can’t stop eating them.” and eventually “I know if I eat one more of these brownies, I’m going to die, but yet I can’t stop myself from eating it. They’re like crack.” Ever since, they’ve been known as Eli’s Crack Brownies.

Since then I’ve made them several times, changing the flavors each time. I’ve only repeated a few flavors and I haven’t had a dud yet. Sure I have favorites (and this most recent version is one of them) but they’ve all been good. Course, when you’re starting with an extra rich, fudgy dark chocolate brownie, then layering it with white and dark chocolate ganache, it’s hard to screw up. I’ve always meant to try just making the brownie layer on its own – I think it would be the perfect brownie I always want and never quite get – but I never manage to stop without the ganache.

These brownies really do fall into the “stop everything you’re doing and go make them right now” category. And with Christmas right around the corner, what better time is there? But they should also come with a warning: they’re cut small for a reason. Even at their measly 1″ square size, you really shouldn’t eat more than 2 or 3 at a time. Please don’t cut these into normal 2″ or 3″ brownie size. (Please! Think of the children!)

Crack Brownies (Mexican Chocolate Brownie Squares)
Adapted from Gourmet, December 2005

The original recipe called for a high-quality dark chocolate, but I’m cheap and I’ve always just used regular old Bakers Semi-Sweet with superb results.

For brownie layer
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter
10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp almond extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp cayenne
1/2 tsp paprika

For white chocolate ganache
3/4 cup heavy cream
2 3″ cinnamon sticks
1 tsp cassia buds (or replace these with another cinnamon stick)
1 small pinch red chili flakes
10 oz white chocolate

For chocolate ganache
3/4 cup heavy cream
10 oz bittersweet or semisweet chocolate
1 tsp almond extract

Make brownie layer:
Put oven rack in middle position and preheat oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a 13- by 9-inch baking pan and line with 2 crisscrossed sheets of foil, leaving a 2 inch overhang on all sides. Butter foil.

Melt butter and chocolate with brown sugar in a 3-quart heavy saucepan over moderate heat, stirring occasionally, until smooth. Remove from heat. Whisk in eggs and vanilla until combined. Whisk in flour, cocoa, salt, cinnamon and chilies until just combined.

Spread batter evenly in baking pan and bake until set and a wooden pick inserted in center comes out with moist crumbs adhering, about 20 minutes. Cool completely in pan on a rack, about 1 1/2 hours.

Make white chocolate ganache:
Bring cream and spices to a boil; reduce heat and simmer for 10 minutes. Pour cream through a strainer over the white chocolate in a bowl. Stir until smooth. (If the chocolate doesn’t completely melt, microwave it for 30 seconds. Pour over the brownies and refrigerate until completely set, at least 45 minutes.

Make chocolate ganache:
Bring cream to a simmer. Pour over bittersweet chocolate in a bowl. Stir until smooth. (If the chocolate doesn’t completely melt, microwave it for 30 seconds. Pour over the white chocolate layer on the brownies and refrigerate until completely set, at least 2 hours or overnight.

Lift dessert out of pan using foil overhang. Run a heavy knife under hot water and wipe dry, then trim edges of dessert (1/4 inch off each side). Cut dessert into approximately 1″ squares. (I cut 6 rows by 10 rows.)

Alternative Flavors:
These readily lend themselves to experimentation with different flavors. Start from a basic, un-flavored recipe by removing the spices and almond extract from the brownie and ganache layers, then go from there.

Mint
Add Creme de menthe and mint extract to the white chocolate ganache. (This is the original Gourmet recipe.)

Raspberry
Add seedless raspberry jam to the white chocolate ganache and either Frangelico or Amaretto to the dark chocolate ganache.

Orange
Add finely chopped orange zest and Cointreau/Triple Sec/orange extract to the white chocolate ganache.

Coffee
Add extra strong coffee or espresso to the white chocolate ganache.

Dad is great! He gives us chocolate cake!

Eli — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 04:47:59 +0000

A few weeks ago I made a wedding cake for a friend. This is not something that I do often by any means. I will admit that I took classes in wedding cakes and sugars and such back in school…but that was a few years ago, and I can’t say that I’ve really kept up on the skills in the meantime. Suffice it to say I was more than a little nervous about the cake, but it turned out well and the bride was very pleased, so that’s what matters. Perhaps someday I’ll write more about the whole big thing. This is about the test run I did for the chocolate layers.
If you see one, tell me.)

I tested out a few different chocolate cake recipes, but I had an idea this would be the one before I baked any of them. By the time I had the batter mixed, I was positive this was the winner. When it came out of the oven, I decided to skip the third recipe I had planned to test altogether. Seriously. This cake really is that good – moist, rich (but not too rich) and chocolaty. AND it’s sturdy enough to hold up as a wedding cake.

I’d never made a recipe that called for mixing cocoa powder with boiling water. I was quite surprised to see it turn into something resembling ganache. Guess there’s always something new to learn. Other than that, the recipe is easy as hell on top of everything else. What’s the downside? (Really. If you see one, tell me.)

I made a raspberry Swiss meringue buttercream for the top, also a test run for the wedding cake. Well, the wedding cake got just plain SMBC, without the raspberry…but I had to do something special for the test run. I didn’t want them to feel too bad about being just a test run afterall. I know I’m nowhere near the first person to talk about how great SMBC is, but it really is amazing. Buttercream, but light and fluffy without that “I just ate a spoonful of Crisco with sugar” mouthfeel. If you’ve never made it, it’s well worth the few extra steps.

When making Swiss meringue buttercream, remember: Just. Keep. Beating. At some point you’ll think you’re almost done beating the buttercream. It will start to look a bit like frosting and you’ll think it’s ready, then suddenly you’ll have a bowlful of egg white soup with little chunks of floating butter. You’ll want to throw your mixer across the room and slink back to old reliable royal icing…even if it’s not good, you can’t screw it up. But just keep beating it a while longer and it will come back together into a bowl of fluffy white lovely.

Oh. The title of this post. For almost two weeks leading up to the wedding, I had that old Bill Cosby standup routine running through my head. You know the one…

Dark Chocolate Cake

Adapted from Gourmet, September 1996

I made a half recipe for my test run. Unless you’re actually making a wedding cake, a half recipe should be plenty. Unfortunately, none of the fractions come out so well in halves. Oh well.

Makes 1 6″ cake, 2 3″ cakes and 5 cupcakes (or if you want to be reasonable, I’d gues 2 8″ – 10″ cakes)

7/8 cups unsweetened cocoa powder (not Dutch-process)
7/8 cups boiling water
2 ounces fine-quality bittersweet chocolate (not unsweetened), chopped
4 ounces sour cream
2 teaspoons vanilla
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 7/8 sticks unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
2 1/2 large eggs

Preheat oven to 350° F. and line 2 buttered 7- by 2-inch round cake pans and 2 buttered 9- by 2-inch round cake pans with rounds of wax paper. Butter paper and dust pans with flour, knocking out excess.

Put cocoa powder in a bowl and whisk in boiling water in a stream until smooth. Stir in chopped chocolate and let stand 5 minutes. Stir mixture until smooth and chocolate is melted and cool mixture. Whisk in sour cream and vanilla.

Into a bowl sift together flour, baking soda, and salt. In large bowl of a standing electric mixer beat together butter and sugars until light and fluffy and add eggs, 1 at a time, beating well after each addition and scraping down side of bowl. Reduce speed to low and add flour mixture and cocoa mixture alternately in batches, beginning and ending with flour mixture and beating until batter is combined well.

Divide remaining batter between pans and smooth tops. Bake cupcakes and 3″ cakes 20 to 25 minutes, 6″ cakes 25 to 30 min and 8″ or 9″ cakes 30 to 35 min, or until a tester comes out with crumbs adhering. Let cakes cool in the pan on a rack about 10 min, then run a thin knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto racks. Peel off paper and cool cakes completely. Cake layers may be made 2 days ahead and kept at cool room temperature, wrapped well in plastic wrap.

Raspberry Swiss Meringue Buttercream

Adapted from The Whimsical Bakehouse

The original recipe calls for unsalted butter, but I used 2 sticks salted and one stick unsalted and got a really nice sweet/salty flavor.

Makes about 4 cups

1/4 cup water
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup egg whites (about 6)
3 sticks butter at room temperature, cut into 1″ pieces
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup raspberry jam (I prefer with seeds)

Bring the sugar and water to a boil. Once it comes to a boil, boil for 7 minutes. After about 5 minutes, begin whipping egg whites at high speed. Whip until stiff; they should be done when the sugar is done.

With the mixer on high speed, slowly add the sugar syrup to the egg whites, pouring the syrup to the side of the bowl to avoid the whip.

Continue to beat until the bowl is cool to the touch, about 10 to 15 minutes. Slowly add the butter and continue beating. Add the vanilla.

Beat until light and fluffy. At some points the mixture might will look curdled. Just keep beating; it will become smooth again.

Once the buttercream is light a fluffy, add the raspberry jam and continue beating until it’s light and fluffy again.