Outrageous Brownie Truffles

Please visit my new blog, Make It and Bake It with Beth, for the brownie truffles recipe.

Salted Caramel Brownies

Back in January I did a baking day with a few of my friends. While gathering ideas for recipes, salted caramel brownies were one of the things that I considered for our baking day. In the end, the best ever chocolate chocolate chip cookies won, because the recipe made more for sharing. I never did forget about those salted caramel brownies though. One of the friends who joined me on the baking day asked me for dinner this past Sunday and I said I would bring a dessert. I remembered that the brownies also caught her interest, so that's what I decided to bring. I made these on Saturday morning. Sadly, Saturday evening and Sunday morning I wasn't feeling too well and neither was my friend's husband, so we had to reschedule our plans. But I still had all those brownies! I dropped some off to her place and shared with Greg and my parents. My parents thought they were the best brownie they had ever had. Greg, on the other hand, said that the brownies were too sweet. Hmm, last time I checked, brownies are supposed to be SWEET! Does anyone disagree with me and agree with Greg? Yeah, I didn't think so. It's okay if Greg doesn't want to eat the brownies though..because that just means there are more for me and Wendy. I already know that Wendy takes after me - she loves sugar too! I hope you enjoy these sweet fudgy gooey and delicious brownies as much as I do.

*Because these brownies are so fudgy, you can actually cut them into mini bites and they can be served as candies or fudge. But I won't judge you if you eat a big brownie or two or three large brownies either.

Recipe for Salted Caramel Brownies 

INGREDIENTS:
For the salted caramel sauce
1/4 cup water
1 cup of granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. of light corn syrup
1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream
1 tsp. of sea salt
1/4 cup of sour cream
For the brownies
1 1/4 cups of all-purpose flour
1 tsp. of coarse sea salt
2 Tbsp. of Dutch processed cocoa powder
A couple pinches of instant coffee powder
11 ounces of bittersweet baking chocolate (I used Ghiradelli), coarsely chopped
16 Tbsp. of unsalted butter, cut into 2-inch pieces
1 1/2 cups of granulated sugar
1/2 cup of light brown sugar, packed firmly
5 eggs, at room temperature
2 tsp. of pure vanilla extract
For topping
Sea salt and coarse sugar

DIRECTIONS:
For the caramel sauce
Put the water, sugar, and corn syrup into a saucepan and set it over medium high heat. Stir almost constantly and cook until it becomes a deep amber color or reaches 330 degrees on a candy thermometer. This will take about 15 - 20 minutes. Be careful not to let the mixture burn!

Then remove the saucepan from the heat. Put the cream in a microwave safe liquid measuring cup and heat for 45 seconds. Then slowly pour some cream down the side of the saucepan and whisk constantly, then continue to add more until all of the cream is incorporated (the mixture will steam and bubble up during this process). Then add in the sea salt and sour cream and mix well. Set the caramel sauce aside to cool.

For the brownies
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line a 9 x 13 baking pan with parchment paper. Put the flour, sea salt, cocoa powder, and coffee powder into a smallish bowl and sift together. Put the chopped chocolate and cut butter into a large saucepan and set over low heat. Gently stir until the butter and chocolate are melted and smooth. Remove from heat. Add in the granulated sugar and light brown sugar to the chocolate mixture and use an electric hand mixer set on medium speed to fully incorporate. Then add in the eggs and mix well. Stir in the vanilla extract. Then pour in the flour mixture and stir until just combined.

Carefully spread half of the brownie batter into the prepared pan. Smooth down with a spatula. Then pour the caramel sauce over the top of the batter into an even layer. Top the caramel sauce off with the rest of the brownie batter, making sure to carefully smooth over the caramel and fully covering it. Put into the oven and bake for 30 - 35 minutes, making sure to rotate the pan halfway through the baking process. Remove brownies from oven and transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Once cooled, sprinkle the sea salt and coarse sugar over the brownies (about 1/2 - 1 tsp.). Cover the brownies and put them into the fridge before cutting. This helps to make them extra fudgy!

Recipe makes about 2 dozen regular-sized brownies and makes about 60 small bites.

Recipe Source: Pink Parsley, originally from Baked Explorations 

Zucchini Brownies (No Flour, Butter, Sugar, Oil, or Egg)!

Please visit my new website, Make It and Bake It with Beth, for the zucchini brownies recipe. 

Roasted Cherry Brownies

Ever since I started my cooking blog, I've gotten emails from people that include recipes that they think would be good for me to share (especially from my mom)! My sister told me that she made these roasted cherry brownies from Annie's Eats, and she said they were really good. Well, since I love Annie's website and because I love cherries and brownies, I decided to try out the recipe. I'm sure glad that I did!

Ok, I'm going to go out on a limb here and tell you that these brownies are healthy. They don't have too much sugar (compared to other brownie recipes), and the brownies are  loaded with antioxidant-rich dark chocolate. One 9.7 oz bar of SCHARFFEN BERGER bittersweet chocolate also has 50% of your daily iron intake. And let's not forget about all the health benefits you'll get from the cherries...

I made these brownies on Saturday to bring to a cookout, but I accidentally left them at home. Who does that? After enjoying a few myself, I sent the rest of them in with Greg to take to work today. He said they disappeared from the lunchroom very quickly! Enjoy.

Recipe for Roasted Cherry Brownies

I ate one before the picture - sorry! 

INGREDIENTS:
For the roasted cherries:
2 cups fresh cherries, pitted and halved
2 Tbsp. of granulated sugar
For the brownies:
8 Tbsp (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into quarters
7 oz. of high quality bittersweet chocolate, chopped (such as SCHARFFEN BERGER)
3 Tbsp. of cocoa powder
1 1/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
1/2 tsp. salt
3 eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour

DIRECTIONS:
For the roasted cherries:

Preheat the oven to 450 degrees. Line a baking sheet with foil. Place the cherries on the baking sheet, flesh side up. Sprinkle the cherries evenly with the 2 Tbsp. sugar, and then toss gently to coat. Place the pan on the top rack of the oven, and roast for 10 - 12 minutes. Remove cherries from oven and cool. Turn off oven.

For the brownies:
Prepare a double boiler filled 1/4 full with water. Place it over medium heat. Place the chopped chocolate and butter in a pot. Once the boiler begins to barely simmer and steam, place the pot on top of the boiler and stir a few times until the chocolate and butter are melted and smooth. Stir in the cocoa powder and mix until smooth. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.

In a medium bowl, combine the sugar, vanilla extract, salt, and eggs. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until well incorporated. Stir in the chocolate and butter mixture and beat on low until well combined.  Add in the flour, and stir until just incorporated. Gently fold in the roasted cherries.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9"x9" pan with foil and spray it with a little bit of baking spray. Pour brownie batter into the prepared pan, and spread evenly. Place pan in middle rack of oven. Bake for 35 minutes.

Place pan on a cooling rack and cool brownies completely, at least 2 hours. Once cooled, remove brownies out of pan by lifting up on the foil. Place brownies on a cutting board and cut into evenly-sized squares.

Store brownies in the fridge in an airtight container.

Source: Annie's Eats

This cherry pitter turned out to be very handy! 

A great tool for pitting the cherries - a cherry pitter! My mother gave me one of these to me several months ago. My husband and I had joked "what the heck do we need a cherry pitter for?" Well, it sure came through when I made the brownies. Thanks, mom!

NOTE:
Cherries are in season right now. They taste great & they are on sale - I got mine for $1.99/lb. Score!