Truffle Brownies

   A few weeks ago one of my managers at work requested these brownies for her birthday.  I've made them several times now and I must say they have ruined me for most other brownies.  At least when I'm having a serious chocolate craving.  While they are very easy and quick to make prep and baking wise, the hour cool down in the freezer makes them a delayed gratification.  But trust me, it's worth it.  And yes, I did say freezer.  *cue confused faces and head scratching*

Brownie Interior

   You can see from the picture why these are called truffle brownies.  The interior consistency is much closer to a truffle filling than your traditional brownie.  I originally found the recipe on the Food Network website.  The Food Network site is always one of my first stops when I'm looking for a new recipe.  Partially because I'm slightly fan-girl obsessed with Alton Brown.  But honestly I've yet to have one of his recipes completely lead me astray.

Warning: Major Food Porn Ahead!

   These are the brownies I was making when I tried to cut off my nail and messed up my manicure the day after I got if you remember that post.  How did I manage that?  Easy.  One of the first things you have to do for these is chop 3 oz of unsweetened chocolate.

   While chopping, you will get some on your fingers.  Trust me when I say DO NOT lick it off.  If you've never tried unsweetened chocolate it is extremely bitter and not at all like the chocolate you would just eat which has sugar added. My next step is always to line my 9 in. cake round with parchment paper held down with some non stick spray.  This will make removal much easier later on.

   Now that most of the prep is done, it's time to get mixing.  Start with the eggs, salt, sugar, and vanilla.  Once those are combined your batter should look something like this:

   Next you combine the chopped unsweetened chocolate and some butter in a bowl and melt in the microwave.  After they're melted, pour the sauce into the egg mix.  You're supposed to do this with the mixer running, but this is really hard unless you have a third arm.  Sadly I haven't grown one yet.  

Unsweetened Chocolate and Butter

Combining Chocolate and Egg mix

   Looking yummy already isn't it?  Now all that's left is add the flour, beat one last time and pour in the pan.  Pop into the oven for 15 minutes.  Yes only 15 minutes.  The recipe says 15-18 minutes.  The first time I made these I did the 18 minutes and while they were still good, I could definitely tell that they were over baked.  Once the pan is out of the oven, set aside and let cool for 10 minutes.  While waiting, start on the ganache topping.  The ganache is simply heavy cream and semi-sweet chocolate chips melted together, either in a double boiler or the microwave.  Guess which way I normally go for.

Cooling Brownies

Ganache

   Now we get to the interesting part.  When it's been 10 minutes pour your ganache on the brownies, and don't worry if they don't look like they're finished baking.  I pour in the middle and rotate the pan to spread the ganache to cover the brownies without getting knife or spoon marks.  This is where the freezer comes in.  Once topped, stick the pan in the freezer for at least an hour to finish setting the brownies and harden the ganache.  

   I stop listening to the recipe at this point.  Yes the brownies are basically done now, but there are a few things left.  The recipe says to cut the brownies while still frozen.  I tried this the first time and it did not go well.  So wait about half an hour for them to defrost THEN cut.  You can either cut into small wedges or squares.  I recommend very small pieces as these are extremely rich. 

   For this batch I cut the edges off to make a square and cut into smaller squares.  I then drizzled some caramel sauce on half.  I made the caramel sauce as well about a week or two earlier,.  It was my first attempt at a caramel and I think it turned out fairly well.  I don't think I let the sugar caramelize quite enough so the flavor isn't quite as deep as it should be but it's still very tasty.  It tastes like melted Werther's Originals candies to me.  But I digress.  

Final Product

   So do you want to make these now?  Actually mixing and baking only takes about half an hour.  But when you add in the freezer and defrost time it goes up to about 2 hours total time before you can enjoy them.  Yes it's a bit longer than normal brownies, though not by much when you consider those normally take 30-45 minutes just to bake.  And if you need a quick fix, licking the bowl while these are in the oven should tide you over.  The batter is almost as good as the final product.