Sunday, March 25, 2007

Black and White Brownies for Kristen

My friend Kristen is gracing me with her presence later this evening, and since I know how much she loves brownies (and since I really had the urge to bake late last night), I knew just what recipe I wanted to make for her.

I love Lindt White Coconut White Chocolate bars. I have made other recipes in the past using them, and I figured this would be a perfect recipe to incorporate them into as well. In general, I am not a fan of white chocolate. I never understood how people simply ate it and swooned over it. Then, I tried Lindt which made me realize just how good "quality" white chocolate could be. (My friend Colleen introduced me to Milky Bars, a fantastic British white chocolate bar, which I love, too, but that's a whole different topic in itself. You can buy Milky Bars at Cost Plus World Market or you can order them here. I prefer to fly to London and buy them there. LOL.)

The original recipe below called for 1 cup of white chocolate chips. If you decide to use chips instead of chopped white chocolate like I did, look for white chocolate chips, not white baking chips. There is a big difference in taste and quality of the final product if you use white chocolate chips (although white baking chips would be fine, too).

These brownies baked up really fudgy (or is it "fudgey"?) in the middle with a shiny, crackly top. The sides of the brownies puffed up really high while baking and never came down to the same level as the rest of the pan (even after cooling completely and sitting overnight), so I did cut off about 1/2-inch around the perimeter before cutting the remaining pan of brownies into 9 squares. Of course, I had to sample the edges I cut off, and this is one fantastic brownie. The sides were chewier and cooked a little bit more than the middle of the pan. These brownies are way too gooey in the middle for me, but luckily, I know Kristen prefers them that way. I, myself, am a chewy-in-the-middle, shiny-and-crackly-on-the-top kind of girl.

Concensus: If you like fudgy (fudgey?), gooey brownies, then this is the recipe for you. If you like your brownies chewy or cakey, I wouldn't recommend this recipe, though. The chopped white coconut white chocolate adds a really nice subtle coconut flavor, so if you like coconut and can find these Lindt bars, I would recommend using them. I have found them at both Walgreen's and Bed, Bath & Beyond. If you're more of a traditionalist, you can leave the white chocolate out altogether.

Black and White Brownies

Source: Adapted from Sunset

1/3 cup salted butter
1 cup (6 oz.) semisweet chocolate chips
3/4 cup sugar
2 large eggs, at room temperature
2 T. water
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1 cup (6 oz.) chopped white chocolate bars*


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a 2- to 3-quart pan over low heat, frequently stir butter and semisweet chocolate chips until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in sugar, eggs, water and vanilla extract. Sift flour and baking soda together in a small bowl; add to chocolate mixture and mix just until blended. Cool about 15 minutes, then stir in the chopped white chocolate. (Adding the white chocolate any sooner will cause it to melt into the chocolate brownie batter.)

Spread batter evenly in a buttered and floured 8-inch square baking pan.

Bake until edges feel firm to the touch and begin to turn a shade darker, 25 to 30 minutes.

Run a knife between pan rim and brownie. Let cool in pan on a rack, about 1 hour. Cut into 9 large or 16 small squares.

Yield: Makes 9 or 16 brownies.

Notes: I used salted butter instead of the usual unsalted butter since the recipe didn't have any other added salt. If you use Lindt Excellence White Coconut White Chocolate bars, you will need to purchase two (3.5 oz.) bars to fulfill the amount needed for this recipe. (You will have some left over, so just eat it and enjoy.) I let the brownies cool completely and sit overnight wrapped in plastic wrap before cutting into bars.



 

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

All gone now. Please make me more brownies soon.

K

Mindy said...

I'll have a fresh batch for you when I see you Sunday. (We are getting together Sunday, right?) I hope you like frosted brownies flavored with dark rum because that's what you're getting. :)