maandag 31 mei 2010

TWD: White Chocolate Brownies


Welcome to a very special edition of Tuesdays with Dorie! You might wonder why this one is so special, well it's because I finally got to pick the recipe! Yay!! But picking one recipe wasn't as easy as I thought it would be, there were still so many good recipes left! With the help from my mom I finally narrowed it down to the White Chocolate Brownies on pages 110 and 111 of Baking from My Home to Yours, which I'm sure pleased CB a lot as she'd been trying to bribe all the members of TWD to vote on the White Chocolate Brownies when we all got to pick the second anniversary recipe for Tuesdays with Dorie last January.



Reading through the P&Q for the brownies I found out that I had picked a recipe that was a bit controversial: lots of talk about good raspberries being difficult to find and very expensive, meringue-haters and problems with undercooked brownies. So you can imagine I really wanted these brownies to work. Unfortunately my first batch came out a disaster: the brownies were still gooey and undercooked after an extra 40 minutes in the oven and the meringue was overcooked and too chewwy.



I decided to give the brownies another try and used blueberries instead since I was out of raspberries. Lack of orange forced me to leave the orange zest out and by now I was also out of almonds so I subbed them with more flour.



In the P&Q Jacque of Daisy Lane Cake suggested to bake the brownies first and then add the meringue, so that's exactly what I did. I lined a cupcake pan with liners and filled 24 liners half full, these were baked for 20 minutes and cooled to room temperature. I then topped them with the meringue and baked them for another 10 minutes: Perfect!
These brownies were delicious, but I must admit that their texture was more cake-like! A tad sweet, but I didn't mind about that: I have major sweet tooth! Don't forget to check out what my fellow TWD-ers thought of the White Chocolate Brownies!



White Chocolate Brownies
makes 32 brownies

White Chocolate, orange zest and lots of fresh raspberries make these brownies delicious; topping them with meringue makes them glamorous. The cake layer is slender, delightfully dense and both sweet and tart; the meringue is soft and golden. You can call them brownies, but serve them with a swirl of raspberry coulis and they'll be worthy of a black-tie gala.


For the brownies:
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
½ cup finely ground almonds
½ teaspoon salt
1 stick (8 tablespoons) unsalted butter, cut into 8 pieces
4 ounces premium-quality white chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 cup sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange zest
4 large eggs
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 cup fresh raspberries

For the meringue:
3 large egg whites, at room temperature
Pinch of salt
½ cup sugar

Confectioners' sugar, for dusting


Getting ready
Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.

Butter a 9-x-13-inch pan, line the bottom with parchment or wax paper, butter the paper and dust the bottom and sides of the pan with flour; tap out the excess. Put the pan on a baking sheet.


To make the brownies
Whisk together the flour, ground almonds and salt.
Set a heatproof bowl over a saucepan of only-just-simmering water. Put the butter in the bowl, top with the chopped chocolate and stir frequently until the ingredients are just melted—you don't want them to get so hot that the butter or the white chocolate separates. (White chocolate is finicky, so don't leave the kitchen while it's over the heat—too much heat and it will fall apart or scorch.) Remove the bowl from the pan of water.

Working in the bowl of a stand mixer or in another large bowl, rub the sugar and orange zest together with your fingers until the sugar is moist and aromatic. Add the eggs and, with the paddle or whisk attachment, or with a hand mixer, beat on medium-high speed for about 3 minutes, or until pale and foamy. Beat in the vanilla. Reduce the mixer speed to low and blend in the melted butter and chocolate. Still working on low, mix in the dry ingredients, stirring only until they disappear into the batter. Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and sprinkle the raspberries evenly over the batter. Set aside while you make the meringue.


To make the meringue
In the cleaned mixer bowl with the (clean) whisk attachment, or in another large bowl with cleaned beaters, beat the egg whites with the salt on medium speed until they are foamy and just turn opaque. Increase the mixer speed to medium-high and add the sugar in a slow, steady stream. Whip the whites until they form firm but still glossy peaks.
Gently spread the meringue over the brownie batter.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, or until the meringue is browned and crackly and the brownies pull away from the sides of the pan. Transfer the pan to a rack and allow to cool to room temperature in the pan.

Cover a cooling rack with a piece of parchment or wax paper, or a silicone baking mat, dust the paper or mat with confectioners' sugar and very gently, so you don't squish the meringue, turn the brownies out onto the rack. Peel away the parchment paper lining and carefully invert the brownies onto a cutting board. Cut into 32 bars, each roughly 2¼ x 11½ inches.


Serving
Dust the squares with additional confectioners' sugar if you think they need it and serve as is or with Raspberry Coulis


Storing
Kept in the pan and covered lightly with plastic wrap, the brownies can be kept at room temperature overnight. The meringue makes these fragile (and unfreezable). If you omit the meringue, you can wrap the brownies airtight and keep them at room temperature for up to 3 days and frozen for up to 2 months.

54 opmerkingen:

Unknown zei

Thanks for hosting this week Marthe! Your brownies look wonderful :) I used blueberries too since raspberries aren't quite in season yet and I thought the result was tasty. I agree with you though, I definitely found this recipe more cake-like than brownie.

TeaLady zei

This was a good pick. I used blue and black berries and liked those a lot.

It was more of a cake,but that is okay too. Yours look just right.

Engineer Baker zei

Thanks for hosting! I'm glad yours turned out - that second variation sounds better than the original :)

Susan @ My Wholefood Family Essentials zei

Thanks for a great pick Marthe! I loved these. Yours look perfect.

Di zei

I'm glad that you got these to work out in the end. Mine weren't so good, but at least I tried. =) I wonder if part of the problem with mine was that the raspberries make them soggy--I think blueberries would be better.

Katrina zei

Love the cupcake form! I had issues, too, but am glad I took the chance to make these. I made half a recipe in an 8x8. 40 minutes, called it good. Way underbaked. I like the idea of adding the meringue after they are baked. Or as I originally thought, to make little mini cupcake size, no meringue and top with a dollop of whipped cream and a raspberry on top.
The cake/brownie part was really good.

Nancy/n.o.e zei

Way to persevere, Marthe, and make these turn out perfectly in the end! Picking a recipe is definitely a big deal and yours are so pretty that your coworkers will no doubt be thrilled to see and taste them! I'll bet the blueberries were a delicious addition.

Valerie Gamine zei

Thank you, Marthe! This was much better than I expected. I love the idea of using blueberries btw, they turned out perfectly on the second try!

natalia zei

Ciao Marthe ! Your brownies are wonderful ! I came to copy your method I'll do what you did !Thanks for hosting !

PheMom zei

We really enjoyed how these turned out! Thanks for choosing them! I am excited to see you made individual ones because I think that is what I want to do next time. Beautiful job!

Sihan zei

Thanks Marthe for choosing this week's recipe. A little too sweet but I still popped a few nonetheless!

Paula zei

Love the cupcakes. Very nice post for all of us to link too.

Stephanie zei

Thanks for picking this recipe!

Anoniem zei

Thanks for this pick! I can't wait to make it a few more times to perfect it, they were so tasty!

Your cupcake/brownies are lovely!

chocolatechic zei

Fabulous pick.

Thanks so much.

I loved them

Nickki zei

Thank you for a lovely pick! I loved these brownies. I was sure mine would emerge from the oven underbaked and gooey, but they were fine! My boys loved them :)

Mary zei

Thanks for hosting. I really enjoy your blog. I will try making them with a cupcake shape next time and maybe mine will come out as well as yours did??!!

Cindy zei

Thanks for choosing a yummy fun recipe. They were delicious. I omitted the meringue and went with an orange glaze. Delicious!

Welcome to our crazy blessed life zei

I am so glad you chose this recipe! I like CB have been eying them for quite some time! :) Mine came out perfectly!

Chats the Comfy Cook zei

You certainly came up with the solution to make a super cupcake. Putting the meringue on later worked and solved the problems that so many had. They look super.

Tia zei

thanks for hosting! sorry, but mine morphed into Salty/Sweet Brown Butter Frosted Brownies! I loved them though.

The Mortensens zei

Thanks for hosting this week. I like this recipe (after an extra 20 minutes of baking). It was unique and tasty. Your brownies looked like they turned out really well--even though you had to make some changes.

mike zei

A great choice! While it wasn't my favorite - it sure was fun to bake and experiment with! That's what baking is all about. And I LOVE your cupcake - such a great variation to the shape and form! Wonderful!

Heather zei

That seems like a really good way to do it - put the meringue on last. My meringue ended up really flat and the batter kind of soupy in the middle! It was still delicious though. My kids ate quite a bit of it and then I took the rest to my book club.

Unknown zei

I'm so glad you chose these - even though they were controversial! Your little cakes are beautiful.

Becky @ Project Domestication zei

Thanks for hosting. I loved this recipe. I want to try them in a cupcake pan like you did. So fun.

Amber Marie zei

I used blueberries and loved it too! I think they worked very well. Thanks for the pick this week! And I love the background and layout of your blog - very pretty!

Cakelaw zei

Yay, success! If I ever make these again, I will have to remember that that is the trick. Your individual cupcake shaped brownies are very cute. Thanks for being our host this week. BTW, I haven't visited your blog for a while, and I love the new layout - very cute!!

Mimi zei

Thanks for being our host this week. I really like your individual brownies.
Mimi

Kayte zei

I was so looking forward to these, Dorie makes them look so elegant in the book...however, that does not mean that I can make them look that. Don't know what went wrong, thought I was following along exactly but everything was soggy and mushy and fell apart in transport from pan to cutting board. That does not mean that they did not get eaten...after 5.5 hours of swim practice today, Matt came home and ate them one by one (I made a half batch so maybe that is where I erred in pan size or something.) Anyway, I picked at one and the flavor was good, so I probably need to try try again. Yours look lovely.

Pamela zei

Looks great, Marthe! And the blog looks fantastic, too! Great pick. Thanks for getting me back into the kitchen this week. :o)

Criollobylisa zei

Love the cupcake idea! Very pretty!

Jacque zei

Yea! I'm so glad they eventually worked out for you. I like the idea of making them into individual brownies/cakes. Thanks so much for hosting, this was a very interesting recipe.

Liz zei

Wow, CB must loooove you for finally picking this recipe! Doing them in cupcake pans was a great idea, and I'm so glad it finally worked for you the second time around.

margot zei

Hi Marthe, thanks for hosting this week! Your brownies look terrific in cupcake form! I think that's the perfect way to make these since they are more cakey.

Rhiani zei

Thanks for hosting this week - I'm glad you decided to give these another go after your first attempt and I love the cupcake idea.

Christina and Jacob zei

Thanks for picking this recipe. I have been eying this one for a while, so it's nice to see what it's really like. I'm glad you were able to get a more satisfactory bar on the second try.

Brownieville Girl zei

They look wonderful Marthe - well worth giving them a second go.

I'm slightly obsessed with brownies, and am looking forward to trying this recipe.

Nichicakes zei

Gorgeous brownies Marthe

Bella Baker zei

Marthe, great pick this week!! I happend to love these!!! Lots of people had issues, but mine were just wonderful!! Love your blog!! xoxox

Jeannette zei

these were great!!! thanks so much for picking a great recipe. i nipped and tucked but these were great!

Isabelle zei

Thanks for choosing this week recipe Marthe! Your cupcake brownies are perfect! I made my brownies without the meringue and I loved em!

Hindy zei

These were a huge hit in my home. Thanks for choosing them!

Leslie zei

I can imagine how much fun it was to make your pick! I'm glad they worked out for you the second time around. Thanks for hosting this week!

Carol Peterman/TableFare zei

I really liked these. I did some experimenting and made a soft meringue version, but preferred the crispy meringue. I love your cupcake take on these.

Anoniem zei

Yours look so pretty....I made a few adjustments, to fit what would be eatin' in this household, and they turned our great!

steph- whisk/spoon zei

it's good to cause a little controversy now and again! i liked the recipe, so thanks for the pick!

Unknown zei

Mine came out terrible. I wanted to let you know I did try these with you. I made mine on Memorial Day. They were supposed to be my contribution to the day. They were soup. I could not even post them.I had not read the P&Qs, so I had no idea they were being finicky! I thought it was something I did. I do plan on trying them again, especially after reading your success later on. Thanks for hosting!

Anoniem zei

Your cupcake version looks really nice! I'm glad you were able to make these work on the 2nd try. They were definitely more cake-like than brownie-like. You did a great job of hosting this week!

Carol Peterman/TableFare zei

Sitting around after dinner tonight wanting a sweet-treat. I'm making another batch of these!

Carol Peterman/TableFare zei

The plans to just whip up another batch of these tonight, turned out to require a lot of creative thinking.

I didn't have enough chocolate, so I used mellon-baller scoops of some chocolate ganache I had stashed in the freezer. Then I realized I didn't have any all-purpose flour, so I used a mix of cake flour and WW pastry flour. Then I remembered I used all the orange rind I had in the freezer, but that was an easy one because I have a good stash of lemon rind. Only having 2 eggs and needing 4 almost stumped me. I have extra whites in the freezer, but what to do about the yolks? Just as I was about to settle on adding a little cream I remembered I had cream cheese! I subbed 1Tbsp. cream cheese for each yolk. I'm a little shocked at how well they turned out. No one would know I was scavenging the kitchen to pull these together!

Peggy zei

OMG - those look fabulous!!

Anoniem zei
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Anoniem zei
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