Triple Chocolate Brownies

Lisa brought a conventional version of these to our monthly Book Group meeting two years ago.  It’s among my favorite brownie recipes (so many brownies, so little time….) I was going to bake something else for today’s blog, but was inspired by the opportunity to try Baker Josef’s Gluten Free All Purpose Flour, Trader Joe’s GF offering, which I saw for the first time today.  It took T.J.s a few years to establish their first Maine location in Portland, so maybe this GF flour already debuted in (California?) It’s possible those of you in other parts of the country have had the opportunity to use it. The variety of flours is the same I use in my GF mix, but in different proportions.  I’m most pleased by how finely ground the brown rice is. Using chopped chocolate (bars) instead of chocolate chips will give the brownies a nicer consistency, but try the recipe both ways to determine the difference.  Our vote: the brownies made with TJ’s GF Flour Mix are… EXCELLENT!  I’m really pleased and hope you like them as much as we do. Fair warning: they’re the real deal – you’ll need an extra walk around the block to earn one!

Lastly, a friend collects natural whole and composite wine and champagne corks to make trivets. (The last photograph in the gallery at the bottom of the post.)  They’re often beautifully monogramed (see the one that reads “Poppy”, our sons’ name for their paternal grandfather.)  I’ve known people to collect the corks from their wedding champagne and use them to decorate frames, or thread them to make Christmas tree garlands.  I think of Cricket every time I bake and use her trivet to protect the counter. Sadly, or happily for cork trees, real cork plugs, even composite “corks”, are used less and less in the bottling of wine. Once you start noticing your corks, it’ll be hard to discard them. A carpenter friend used hundreds harvested from downtown Portland bars and restaurants to line a door he made for soundproofing from the kitchen to the diningroom: brilliant  Imagine being able to give Poppy a frame or trivet made entirely of “Poppy” corks!

Ingredients:

6 oz. unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks)

6 oz. dark chocolate

3 large organic eggs (again, I encourage you to splurge.)

1½ cups (12 oz.) super fine granulated sugar

½ cup unsweetened cocoa (nice quality!)

¾ cups (6oz.) Trader Joe’s GF Flour Mix (or yours or “Gus’s”…)

1/8 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon GF vanilla extract

¼ teaspoon almond extract (optional)

¾ cup (4.5 oz.) chopped white chocolate

¾ cup (4.5 oz.) chopped milk chocolate (Callebaut hazelnut is nice if you like the flavor.)

Directions:

1. Heat the oven to 350 F and line an 8 x 8 inch baking pan with parchment paper and apply a thin coating of oil or butter.
2. Melt the butter and dark chocolate together over a low heat – set aside to cool.
3. Measure the flour, cocoa, and salt into a small mixing bowl; whisk to blend.
4. Whisk together the eggs, vanilla extract, and almond extract in a large bowl; add the sugar and whisk vigorously to blend well.
5. Fold the cooled chocolate/butter mixture into the egg/sugar mixture.
6. Stir the dry ingredients into the chocolate/egg mixture. Blend well.
7. Fold the chopped chocolate into the batter.
8. Spread the batter into the prepared pan.
9. Bake at 350F for 35 – 40 minutes.  Cool before cutting.  (Or don’t wait and serve warm with ice cream!)
   

   Preparing the pan

   

   Assembling and weighing ingredients

   

   Chopping chocolate

   

   Stirring dry ingredients into egg/chocolate mixture

   

   Turning the batter into the pan

   

   Ready to bake

   

   We’re going with “warm out of the oven….”

   

   Natural corks are becoming scarce

   

   Cricket’s cork trivet