Gourmet French Brownies Recipes

FRENCH CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Steps:

• Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 300°F. Line an 8-inch square baking pan with foil, butter the foil, place the pan on a baking sheet, and set aside.
• Whisk together the flour and salt.
• Put the chocolate in a heatproof bowl and set the bowl over a saucepan of simmering water. Slowly and gently melt the chocolate, stirring occasionally. Remove the bowl from the saucepan and add the butter, stirring so that it melts. It's important that the chocolate and butter not get very hot. However, if the butter is not melting, you can put the bowl back over the still-hot water for a minute. If you've got a couple of little bits of unmelted butter, leave them-it's better to have a few bits than to overheat the whole. Set the chocolate aside for the moment.
• Working with a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer in a large bowl, beat the eggs and sugar until they are thick and pale, about 2 minutes. Lower the mixer speed and pour in the chocolate-butter, mixing only until it is incorporated-you'll have a thick, creamy batter. Add the dry ingredients and mix at low speed for about 30 seconds-the dry ingredients won't be completely incorporated and that's fine. Finish folding in the dry ingredients by hand with a rubber spatula. (This batter was almost like a mousse when it was done being mixed, and very light in color)
• Scrape the batter into the pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is dry and crackled and a knife inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow the brownies to cool to warm or room temperature.
• (These brownies ended up with a thin crispy layer on top and rose significantly during baking and then subsequently caved in after cooling slightly!)
• Carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, using the foil edges as handles, and transfer to a cutting board. With a long-bladed knife, cut the brownies into 16 squares, each roughly 2 inches on a side, taking care not to cut through the foil.
• Serving: The brownies are good just warm or at room temperature; they're even fine cold. I like these with a little something on top or alongside-good go-alongs are whipped crème fraiche or whipped cream, ice cream or chocolate sauce or even all three!
• Storing: Wrapped well, these can be kept at room temperature for up to 3 days or frozen for up to 2 months.

FRENCH SILK BROWNIES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F. Spray bottom of 13x9-inch pan with cooking spray.
• Make brownie batter as directed on box. Stir in 1/2 cup chocolate chips. Spread in pan. Bake 22 to 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted 2 inches from side of pan comes out almost clean. Cool completely, about 1 hour.
• In large bowl, beat Filling ingredients with electric mixer on medium speed until smooth, scraping down sides of bowl frequently. Spread evenly over brownies. Refrigerate about 2 hours or until set.
• When ready to serve, cut brownies into 6 rows by 4 rows. In chilled medium bowl, beat 1 cup whipping cream with electric mixer on medium-high speed until slightly thickened. Reduce speed; beat in 3 tablespoons powdered sugar and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Increase speed; beat mixture until stiff peaks form.
• Spoon whipped cream into decorating bag fitted with 1/2-inch star piping tip. In center of each brownie, apply steady pressure to bag while squeezing, and pipe in tight circle to make rosette flower about 1 1/2 inches in diameter. Stop squeezing, and quickly lift bag off. Garnish rosettes with chocolate chips. Store loosely covered in refrigerator.

GOURMET FRENCH BROWNIES

Steps:

• In a small saucepan, combine Frangelica and 2 tablespoons sugar. Bring to a boil, then simmer until liquid is reduce to about 3 tablespoons of syrup, about 10 minutes.
• Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Line a 10-by-15-inch jelly roll pan with parchment paper. Butter and sugar the paper. Separate 9 of the eggs, putting the whites in a mixers bowl and 7 yolks into a medium bowl. (Use remaining yolks for another use.) Add the 2 remaining whole eggs and ¼ a cup of powdered sugar to yolks, whisk until blended.
• In the microwave, or in a double boiler, melt chocolate. Put the melted chocolate in a mixing bowl and stir in butter until smooth. Whisk in the egg yolk mixture then stir in cinnamon.
• Add remaining powdered sugar to egg white and beat with a mixer until it forms stiff peaks. Fold about 1 cup of the egg whites to the chocolate mixture until blended. Add chocolate mixture to the egg white in bowl and fold in until smooth. Fold in reserved Frangelica syrup, vanilla and half the walnuts.
• Pour into prepared baking pan, and use a spatula to spread evenly to the sides of the pan. Sprinkle with remaining walnuts, and fleur de sel evenly over the top. Place in the heated oven. When top is puffed up, about 20-25 minutes, insert knife into the center and see if it comes out clean, if it does then remove from oven. While brownies are still hot, use a paring knife to trim the sides, which may have puffed up over the rim of the baking pan. Place a baking sheet lined with parchment paper on top of the brownies, then invert. Remove top pan and sheet of parchment paper. Let brownies rest at room temperature for 8 hours. Cut into 12 rectangles and enjoy!

FRENCH CHOCOLATE BROWNIES

Steps:

• Place a rack just below center of oven and preheat to 300 degrees. Line an 8-inch-square pan with foil and brush with melted butter.
• In a bowl, whisk flour and salt together. In top of a double boiler set over barely simmering water, or on low power in a microwave, melt remaining butter and chocolate together. Stir often and remove from heat when a few lumps remain. Stir until smooth.
• In a mixer, beat eggs and sugar together until thick and pale yellow. Add chocolate mixture and vanilla and mix at low speed until smooth. Add dry ingredients and mix 30 seconds, then finish mixing by hand, adding nuts if using. Pour into prepared pan and bake 50 to 60 minutes, until top is dry. Let cool in pan, then lift out and cut into bars or wrap in foil.