Tasting Tuesdays: Brownie Crumble

Whoo! It’s been a while!

I was out of town for my birthday… eating my way through Toronto. As I do when I travel.

But I’m coming back… with brownies. (And cake–two cakes! But that’s for another post.)

Let’s talk about these brownies. I was so furious at the Miette cookbook when I went to cut these brownies the next day and found that they went completely to crumbles the minute you put your knife in them.

But then I typed up the recipe for this blog post… and realized that it advised you to cut them while still warm, only about 20 minutes. Well, guess I learned my lesson!

Luckily, you can make a pan of messed-up brownies into adorable brownie crumble by popping them into “nut party cups” that you have lying in your cupcake liner shelf. (What–you don’t have a cupcake liner shelf?)

And, whether you read the directions properly or not, these brownies have a deep, rich chocolate flavor. I’m sure it’s probably due to the fact that there are four bars of melted 70% cacao chocolate in there, but still–it’s so good. (That dash of espresso powder just adds that extra oomph to chocolate desserts, no!?)

Really, this recipe is par for the course with the Miette cookbook: all their recipes turn out lovely flavors, but the directions drive me crazy and often produce not-quite-right treats. Imperfect, fussy recipes… pretty incredible flavors. Worth the fuss? I still can’t decide! It’s just a good thing this book is so darn pretty.

As always, a huge thank you to the lovely ladies at Anthropologie Milwaukee! It was great to hang out with you (and be tempted by the brand-new stock and displays!). Also, did you see there’s a new table in the dressing room!? It’s blue. And so cute. The food styling geek in me is pretty excited for a new string of photo shoots!

About Tasting Tuesdays
Every month, I bake a recipe from a cookbook sold at the Milwaukee Anthropologie. Stop by–the goodies will be on display for you to try, and I’ll be there, too, camera in hand. I post the featured recipe and photos of the event here on the blog. (Anthropologie pays for groceries for the treats, but I have full control over the cookbook/recipe from their store as well as what I say in my blog posts.)

Brownie Crumble
From Miette
Makes one 9×13 pan of brownie crumble (or 12 brownie cupcakes)

1 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp espresso powder
1 lb 70% cacao chocolate, chopped (I used four 4 oz Ghirardelli baking bars)
2 1/2 cups sugar
12 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt
5 large eggs at room temperature
1 cup walnut halves (optional)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter the 9×13 baking pan and dust with cocoa. Set aside.

Sift together the flour, baking powder, and espresso powder into a bowl. Set aside.

In a large (note: seriously–very large) microwaveable bowl, combine chocolate, sugar, butter, vanilla, and salt. Microwave on high in 30-second intervals, stirring in between. Continue to microwave until the chocolate is completely melted.

While warm, transfer chocolate mixture to the bowl of your stand mixer with the paddle attachment; mix on low for 30 seconds, then add eggs, 1 at a time, beating until shiny after each addition. Add the flour mixture and beat until just combined. Raise the speed to medium and beat for another 30 seconds, until very shiny; batter will be very liquidy at this point.

Pour batter into prepared pan. Use the spatula to smooth to edges. Sprinkle walnuts over the top if desired. Bake 40-45 minutes until bronwnies pull away from side of the pan. Let the brownies cool for about 20 minutes, then remove from the pan and cut while still warm (I seriously wish I had actually read this step. Sigh).

• chocolate
• walnuts