Les brownies

I've been baking, baking, and yes... baking some more. I've been baking more than I've been blogging. Luckily for me, I have no problem getting people to try my baked goods; there are always hungry mouths to feed or baking requests to fulfill. Sometimes I need to take a break from throwing six dozen cookies in the oven, and I opt for things that can be baked in a pan. Brownies usually go over well with the masses.

In the past I've used the recipe on Baker's chocolate to make my brownies. Since going to pastry school, I now opt for my 'les brownies' recipe from France that uses actual chocolate instead of unsweetened baking chocolate. I decided to use a mix of  60%, 72% and 86% Ghirardelli chocolates. Believe it or not, the French love 'les brownies' and 'les cookies'.

I also had some left over dulce de leche, and decided to swirl it into a second batch of brownies. However the chocolate ended up being a bit overpowering and on hindsight, I don't know if it would have been better to just drizzle the dulce de leche in near the end of baking.

Les Brownies:

Dark chocolate at least 55% - 300g
Butter - 250g
Granulated sugar - 400g
Eggs - 200g (approximately 4 large)
Vanilla extract - 5g
Flour - 200g
Baking powder - 5g
Salt - 1g
Chocolate drops - 150g
Chopped walnuts - 150g

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (170 degrees Celsius). Melt the butter and the chocolate. Mix eggs, sugar and vanilla extract with a whisk without providing volume. Pour this mixture onto the chocolate. Add the sifted flour and baking powder. Incorporate the chocolate drops, walnuts and salt. Fill the buttered and floured molds/pans. Bake the brownies for 30-35 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean.