These delicious chocolate squares first appeared in 1906 and many stories have been told about how the recipe started but nothing is certain. What's absolutely certain that brownies are heavenly and can be easily tweaked to have different tastes and textures within the same gooey chocolaty theme.
Though I make lots of brownie batches I haven't so far posted a brownie recipe. While browsing the chocolate section in the supermarket few weeks ago, my attention was drawn to a caramel chocolate bar from Lindt and this was the source of inspiration for my new brownie recipe and a truly decadent and sinful one it is.
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| The inspiration |
- 75 g semisweet chocolate
- 65 g unsalted butter
- 50 g white sugar and 25 g dark brown sugar
- 25 g flour
- 1 egg
- 5 g cocoa powder
- dash of salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp instante coffee
Line a 18x18 cm pan with parchment paper. Sift the flour and the cocoa powder and add the salt.
In a double boiler and over a gentle flame, melt the chocolate and butter. Add the instant coffee to the melted chocolate and butter mix and combine well until it dissolves. Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, but don't add too much as its powerful taste can mask all other flavors!
When the chocolate mixture has cooled, add the sugar followed by the egg and the vanilla. Mix until everything is combined well. Now add the sifted dry ingredients, and mix well.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 10 to 15 min in a preheated oven (180C). I should note that I made a thin layer of batter but if you wish you can double the amount of the ingredients to make thicker slices of brownies.
In a double boiler and over a gentle flame, melt the chocolate and butter. Add the instant coffee to the melted chocolate and butter mix and combine well until it dissolves. Coffee enhances the flavor of chocolate, but don't add too much as its powerful taste can mask all other flavors!
When the chocolate mixture has cooled, add the sugar followed by the egg and the vanilla. Mix until everything is combined well. Now add the sifted dry ingredients, and mix well.
Pour the batter into the pan and bake for about 10 to 15 min in a preheated oven (180C). I should note that I made a thin layer of batter but if you wish you can double the amount of the ingredients to make thicker slices of brownies.
As the brownies cool make the salted caramel sauce using this recipe. However, I tweaked the caramel sauce a bit by adding only 200 ml of cream because I wanted it to be a bit thicker! You can also made the sauce a day ahead!
Pour the caramel over the cooled brownies and place it in the fridge for about half an hour or until the caramel sets! I needed about 150 g of caramel to cover the brownies.
The caramel layer will be topped with a thin chocolate layer for which you will need 100 g of any kind of chocolate, however dark chocolate works better as it balances the sweetness of the caramel.
Chop the chocolate bar into medium size pieces, put 3/4 of the amount in microwave proof bowl and melt for 30 seconds. Remover stir and again place the chocolate for 30 sec, repeat until the chocolate has melted now add the remaining chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted.This is an easy way to temper the chocolate which guarantees that you will have a nice crunchy layer with no white spots over it.
Pour the chocolate over the cooled and set caramel layer. Put in the fridge again for the chocolate layer to set.
Chop the chocolate bar into medium size pieces, put 3/4 of the amount in microwave proof bowl and melt for 30 seconds. Remover stir and again place the chocolate for 30 sec, repeat until the chocolate has melted now add the remaining chocolate and stir until all of the chocolate has melted.This is an easy way to temper the chocolate which guarantees that you will have a nice crunchy layer with no white spots over it.
Pour the chocolate over the cooled and set caramel layer. Put in the fridge again for the chocolate layer to set.
This recipe is easy to make and before it´s done half of it will disappear, well at least this is what happened to the one I made!
Enjoy with a nice warm cup of coffee and a side of vanilla ice cream. Bon appetit.