I was going to post something today reflecting about having turned 28 a week ago, but I just don't have much to say about it. One year older, one year wiser, just like last year... I have bigger expectations for the year ahead, and I see a few changes ready to be made, but it's nothing I can quite put into words yet.

So, in lieu of a reflections post, I'm making brownies today and sharing the recipe here. This is just a re-post from an abandoned food blog collaboration amongst friends. I figured I may as well move some of the better recipes over to this space - enjoy!

This is my favorite brownie recipe ever. For me, the perfect brownie should be super indulgent. None of that dry cakey-ness that passes for brownies at the super market. The perfect brownie should have an ever so slightly crunchy 'skin' on the exterior that leads way to chewy melt-in-your-mouth chocolate goodness inside. It's ok if there are chocolate chips in there, but the base of the brownie should really be able to stand on its own.

Before I became a baker my favorite brownie mix was Ghiardelli's- those brownies embodied what a real brownie should be. Then I set foot in the kitchen and for years I absolutely loved the brownie recipe in Tartine- the use of chocolate in them instead of cocoa powder made for intensely rich brownies. But then these fell into my lap mouth and it's been a love-affair ever since. The brown butter adds a touch of nuttiness and the espresso just strengthens that chocolate flavor ten-fold. These are everything a brownie should be. The only terrible thing about them is that they fill your home with amazing chocolate aroma and then you have to wait for them to cool down before you can indulge!

Browned Butter Espresso Brownies

(Slightly adapted from Bon Appetit)
- 10 tablespoons unsalted butter
- 1 1/4 cups sugar
- 3/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons espresso or strong coffee
- 2 large eggs
- 1/3 cup + 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Prepare an 8x8" square pan by lining it with foil.

- Melt the butter in a small saucepan; use a wooden spoon or spatula to stir the butter around occasionally. The butter will begin to boil, once this happens keep an eye on it and stir more frequently. The bubbles will get very big and then start to shrink back down and you'll start to see brown specks making their way up to the top. Once the brown specks appear start to scrape the bottom of the pan. When the butter is a light golden brown color, (this shouldn't take more than a minute or two) take the saucepan off the heat.

- In a large mixing bowl combine the sugar, cocoa powder, and salt with a whisk. Stir in the browned butter, making sure to scrape all the brown speckled goodness out from the bottom of the pan as well. Stir everything well with your wooden spoon or spatula and add the vanilla extract and espresso (or strong coffee), stirring well to incorporate. Add in the eggs and stir well to combine. Add the flour and stir just until incorporated.

- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and smooth the top with a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes, or until the top starts to crack slightly. Let cool completely before cutting.

- Enjoy! Brownies will keep for a few days in an airtight container; they'll keep even longer in the refrigerator.

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Recipe for Browned Butter Espresso Brownies

Head on over to B3K to check out my recipe for these delicious Browned Butter Espresso Brownies!

For all you new readers, Between Three Kitchens is a food blog I write sporadically with a few of my friends. Some friends and family members wanted to be able to share my recipes with their co-workers and associates without sharing the personal side of my blog, so I created Between Three Kitchens as an alternate place to post recipes. Feel free to follow B3K, or if you don't want to add yet another blog to your reader, don't fret! I'll always update here about any new posts that go up over there.

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Brownie Pie, Oh My!

I promised you recipes - don't worry, I haven't forgotten! This one's a good one to start with.

The crust part of this pie is actually from a lemon meringue pie that didn't quite work out... the meringue part was delicious - like a cloud marshmallow - but the lemon part wasn't much of a success. It was gooey and oozy and just not curd-like in any way! I should have gone with my gut instincts and used my trusted lemon curd recipe from my restaurant recipe files. I'm pretty sure the problem here was that I used too much lemon juice though. Oh well. At least the crust was worth trying again!


Meringue! A success! Lemon pie - not quite.

The brownie part of this pie is perfect perfect perfect. It's not too dense, it's not too fudgy, it's not too crumbly - it's just perfect. Make this pie! Your taste-buds will thank you, and your stomach sure won't complain.

Brownie Pie

For the crust:

Sift together 200g all-purpose flour and a pinch of salt.
Work in 125g butter, either with your hands or with a pastry cutter.
Whisk together 50g sugar and 1 egg and mix into dough.
At this point I usually ball up my dough and refrigerate it until I need it. You can also freeze the dough if you need to.

For the brownie filling:

Whisk together 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar.
Mix in 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.
Whisk together 1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and add to wet ingredients. Then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Roll out your crust for a 9-inch tart pan then pour in the brownie batter and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the brownie has set. Top liberally with caramel if you'd like - I did!

Enjoy!

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Brownies, S'mores, and Wookies, Oh My!

Normally, when it comes to brownies, I have one recipe I use and one recipe only - it's the recipe for the brownies at Tartine Bakery in San Francisco that they have so conveniently provided in their amazing cookbook. That recipe yields brownies that are so incredibly fudgey, chocolatey and rich and just all around amazing - I've never known anyone to turn one down. Thank you, Tartine Bakery, for your use of science and your generosity; your brownies make my taste buds happy.

Now, I wouldn't consider myself a brownie purist (come on, I like a little somethin' besides chocolate in there on occasion) but the Tartine brownie is definitely a brownie for purists. It's so incredibly delicious all on it's own, it would almost be blasphemous to tamper with it. Which is why, when I felt a craving for s'mores brownies come on, I decided to turn to another recipe.

Thank David Lebovitz for this one; it's similar to the Tartine brownie, but with a little less chocolate and a little more sugar so this one was perfect for what I intended to do with it. Make brownie batter as instructed, throw in some graham crackers and hershey's chocolate, top with marshmallows, and what have you got? S'mores Brownies, Chewbacca approved.

Chewy Brownies/S'mores Brownies

adapted from David Lebovitz, The Perfect Scoop

1/2 cup unsalted butter, cut into pieces
4 oz semisweet chocolate, cut into small pieces
1 1/4 cups sugar
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour
1/8 tsp salt
3/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

for s'mores brownies you'll also need:
a handful of marshmallows, cut in half
three Hershey's bars
four graham crackers



Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F and prepare an 8x8 pan however you prefer; either with foil, or butter, or both.

Melt the butter in a medium saucepan. Add the chocolate pieces and stir constantly with a spatula over very low heat until the chocolate is melted.

Remove from the heat and stir in the sugar, then the eggs one at a time, and the vanilla. Stir in the flour and the salt. Beat the batter vigorously for 30 seconds, until it begins to form a smooth ball. Stir in the chocolate chips.

For brownie purists: Scrape the batter into the prepared pan, smooth the top, and bake for 30 minutes, until the center feels just about set. Remove from the oven and let cool.

For s'mores brownies: Scrape half of the batter into your pan, lay graham crackers down in a single layer on top of the batter, then layer the hershey's bars on top of that, and spread the rest of the batter across the top. Once your batter is spread pretty evenly and covers the layers underneath, sprinkle marshmallows across the top of the batter, and bake for 30 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool. Once completely cool, I recommend leaving the pan in your refrigerator overnight; believe me, it makes cutting through those brownies so much cleaner.

mmmm, chocolate :)

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