Force Balance Brownies
I was in the grocery buying the stuff I needed to make Thanksgiving dinner and I happened upon a display of Milano cookies, which are one of my partner's favorite cookies. And, since I'd left him outside to mind the bikes while I battled the other shoppers who were all in my way begone the lot of you, I figured it'd be a nice treat to buy him some of the flavors he'd not yet gotten to try.
Among the flavors available were mocha and lemon, both of which I purchased. We've not yet cracked into the mocha, as of the writing of this post, but we got into the lemon cookies as soon as we got home and lord preserve me they were stupid good. I mean, lemon and chocolate? Not what I usually think of, or thought of, but now ...
Mmph.
The following night, we fell asleep on the sofa together until 3:30 am, and because we showered when we woke up, I was all kinds of awake and feisty, so I made the lemon curd used as frosting for this dish. By the time we went to bed (like proper bed, with our teeth brushed and the lights out and everything), it was 5:57 am, and because it was technically Monday and my alarm didn't know that Monday was a holiday, it merrily went off two minutes later, letting me know that it was time to get up. And, because it was 5:59 am and we were kind of slap-happy at the time, we lay in bed and giggled about my alarm going off for five solid minutes before we went back to sleep.
It's a strange relationship we have, but damned if it isn't just a ton of fun.
Anywho, I got up the following morning (I suppose it was technically later that morning) and put the brownies together, and while they baked I made our holiday cards online. It was just the right amount of time, too, with the timer beeping just as I was done with the cards, and it was around that time that I started to seriously wonder who I'd become, because I am usually a hot mess around the holidays.
(I suspect the trick was celebrating a holiday the vast majority of my countrymen weren't celebrating, but we'll have to see if the pattern holds next year to be sure.)
My point in all of this is that I managed this entire recipe with about 10 minutes' total work and had it all completely done before I started cooking Thanksgiving dinner, which meant that it was fully cooled and ready to eat by the time we'd eaten dinner (and gone for a walk towalk off the good food and wine pick up our holiday cards). I cut them into very small squares, which was delightful. Meant I got to eat two in one day, because of course I did. I dare you to eat less.
(The name comes from the fact that it's a good dark chocolate brownie and a very light, summer-y curd on top. Light Side and Dark Side of the Force and whomever decided that Luke was bringing balance to anything was probably drinking some of the good wine I'm always on about, because that boy doesn't balance jack. He is cute, though, for what that's worth.)
Ingredients
For the curd
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 egg
1 1/3 cup water
1 lemon's worth of lemon zest
1 lemon's worth of lemon juice (should be around 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp butter
For the brownies
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or oil if you must)
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
6 tbsp coffee liqueur
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
For the curd
- Zest and juice the lemon; set that noise aside. You'll want it here in a few minutes.
- In a medium saucepan over NO HEAT, whisk together sugar and cornstarch
- Add the egg and whisk.
- Add the water, gradually, whisking so that everything blends nicely.
- Put the heat on medium-high, whisking constantly until the mixture starts to boil and thicken.
- Whisk for another minute after that.
- Remove from heat and add in the lemon zest and juice and the butter.
- Whisk until that's all mixed in.
Refrigerate that so it starts to set up. You can have it fully or partially cooled, so if you make the brownies right away and it's warm when you frost the brownies, that's no problem. If you put it in the 'fridge and go to sleep for three hours before frosting the brownies, that's jake, too.
For the brownies
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- In a cereal bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, taking care not to over-mix.
- Stir in the walnuts.
- Bake in a greased (I use butter) 9x9" baking dish for 30-35 minutes, or until you can poke it in the middle and whatever you poked it with comes out clean.
- Top IMMEDIATELY with the curd when the brownies come out of the oven. This allows the curd to melt and soak into the top of the brownies, which is just exactly what you want.
- Allow to cool completely before getting into it. I know, that's awful, but it's worth it, trust me.
Among the flavors available were mocha and lemon, both of which I purchased. We've not yet cracked into the mocha, as of the writing of this post, but we got into the lemon cookies as soon as we got home and lord preserve me they were stupid good. I mean, lemon and chocolate? Not what I usually think of, or thought of, but now ...
Mmph.
The following night, we fell asleep on the sofa together until 3:30 am, and because we showered when we woke up, I was all kinds of awake and feisty, so I made the lemon curd used as frosting for this dish. By the time we went to bed (like proper bed, with our teeth brushed and the lights out and everything), it was 5:57 am, and because it was technically Monday and my alarm didn't know that Monday was a holiday, it merrily went off two minutes later, letting me know that it was time to get up. And, because it was 5:59 am and we were kind of slap-happy at the time, we lay in bed and giggled about my alarm going off for five solid minutes before we went back to sleep.
It's a strange relationship we have, but damned if it isn't just a ton of fun.
Anywho, I got up the following morning (I suppose it was technically later that morning) and put the brownies together, and while they baked I made our holiday cards online. It was just the right amount of time, too, with the timer beeping just as I was done with the cards, and it was around that time that I started to seriously wonder who I'd become, because I am usually a hot mess around the holidays.
(I suspect the trick was celebrating a holiday the vast majority of my countrymen weren't celebrating, but we'll have to see if the pattern holds next year to be sure.)
My point in all of this is that I managed this entire recipe with about 10 minutes' total work and had it all completely done before I started cooking Thanksgiving dinner, which meant that it was fully cooled and ready to eat by the time we'd eaten dinner (and gone for a walk to
(The name comes from the fact that it's a good dark chocolate brownie and a very light, summer-y curd on top. Light Side and Dark Side of the Force and whomever decided that Luke was bringing balance to anything was probably drinking some of the good wine I'm always on about, because that boy doesn't balance jack. He is cute, though, for what that's worth.)
Force Balance Brownies
Ingredients
For the curd
3/4 cup + 1 tbsp white sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1 egg
1 1/3 cup water
1 lemon's worth of lemon zest
1 lemon's worth of lemon juice (should be around 1/4 cup)
1 tbsp butter
For the brownies
1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce (or oil if you must)
1 cup white sugar
2 eggs
6 tbsp coffee liqueur
1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup unsweetened baking cocoa
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
For the curd
- Zest and juice the lemon; set that noise aside. You'll want it here in a few minutes.
- In a medium saucepan over NO HEAT, whisk together sugar and cornstarch
- Add the egg and whisk.
- Add the water, gradually, whisking so that everything blends nicely.
- Put the heat on medium-high, whisking constantly until the mixture starts to boil and thicken.
- Whisk for another minute after that.
- Remove from heat and add in the lemon zest and juice and the butter.
- Whisk until that's all mixed in.
Refrigerate that so it starts to set up. You can have it fully or partially cooled, so if you make the brownies right away and it's warm when you frost the brownies, that's no problem. If you put it in the 'fridge and go to sleep for three hours before frosting the brownies, that's jake, too.
For the brownies
- Preheat oven to 350*F.
- In a cereal bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients.
- In a small mixing bowl, whisk together the wet ingredients.
- Stir the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, taking care not to over-mix.
- Stir in the walnuts.
- Bake in a greased (I use butter) 9x9" baking dish for 30-35 minutes, or until you can poke it in the middle and whatever you poked it with comes out clean.
- Top IMMEDIATELY with the curd when the brownies come out of the oven. This allows the curd to melt and soak into the top of the brownies, which is just exactly what you want.
- Allow to cool completely before getting into it. I know, that's awful, but it's worth it, trust me.
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