3 sticks butter (unsalted preferred)
6 large eggs
1 cup all-purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar*
2 cups white sugar
8 oz good quality chocolate (semisweet or bittersweet)**
2 teaspoons kosher salt
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon espresso powder***
*- The recipe calls for DARK brown sugar. I had light on hand, so that's what I used.
**I bought dark chocolate from Aldi. The better quality chocolate you buy, the better your brownies will be.
1 cup heavy cream
1 cup grated parmesan
1 lb hot or mild italian sausage
6 oz bacon
1 large yellow onion
1 head of garlic
4-5 medium russet potatoes
2 cups kale****
2 quarts chicken stock
black pepper
salt
***I hate coffee, and personally can taste the espresso when used in chocolate desserts- so this is def. a personal choice! Not required!
****-I can never find kale in small amounts, so it usually goes bad in my fridge. So I use baby spinach instead, since it will all get used in my house.
3 sticks butter (unsalted preferred)
1 cup heavy cream
6 large eggs
1 cup grated parmesan cheese
1 lb hot or mild italian sausage
6 oz bacon
1 large yellow onion
1 head of garlic
4-5 medium russet potatoes
2 cups kale****
2 quarts chicken stock
1 cup all purpose flour
1 cup brown sugar*
2 cups white sugar
3/4 cup dutch processed cocoa powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
8 oz good quality chocolate (semi sweet or bittersweet)**
1 tablespoon espresso powder***
Salt
Black pepper
If you would rather read than watch, you can see Buzzfeed's awesome tutorial on making these brownies, click here to see!
Guys.... these brownies are seriously the best I have ever had- including some super expensive bakery brownies I've tried. The key though is getting really, really good chocolate. If you have an Aldi near you, they import their chocolate. I used the chocolate bar on the left from Aldi. Brand is Choceur and is labeled "Dark Chocolate." I highly recommend this chocolate as it gave the richest chocolate taste to our brownies. Each bar has 5.29 oz and I used two full bars (I know that's over 10 oz, but my brownies were so good yall!)
Some other things I did that were different from the video: I used light brown sugar (that's what I had on hand, and didn't want to go out buy dark), and I didn't use the espresso powder. I personally don't like coffee and I can taste when espresso powder is added to chocolate desserts, especially a whole tablespoon! If I was going to use it I would cut it down to a 1/2-1 teaspoon. That's a personal preference though!
When they say beat the sugar and eggs for several minutes- do it! It makes a huge difference. Remember the creaming video from our first week's baking challenge? If not- watch it here. You really can't underestimate what adding air to your mixture does to you overall product!
Prepare the pan the way it calls for. It makes your finished brownies where you can perfectly cut them without them falling apart.
Something I often stress to my students that is so important that beginning bakers don't realize, is placement of the baked product in your oven. It is so important that you are baking exactly in the middle of your oven. When you are more towards the bottom, your bottom edges will burn and the tops will still be raw. Too close to the top of your oven, your tops will be burned. The way most residential ovens work (I say most, because some of yall might have residential convection ovens- that is a separate bullet here) is that hot air rises from the bottom of your oven. Think of having a two story house- the hot air is rising to the second floor of your house. So in your oven, your sweet spot is that very center. It is also important that you get your brownies in the center horizontal wise.
If your oven is convection (if it is a switch that you can turn on convection- I suggest keeping it at a regular conventional oven) and convection only- lower the temperature to 325°F and bake for the first time 18 minutes and the second time 16-18 minutes. The air movement does cause the baked good to bake faster, but every oven varies so much. I know it's crazy to say, but if you bake enough, you get to know your own oven and what to expect.
Cooling is another big step people often skip. This is soooo very important. What you are allowing to happen is for the fats that are liquid when heated to re-solidify as the cool (ever try to eat a cookie made with butter right out of the oven and it disintegrated into nothing, but after waiting 3-5 minutes its the perfect solid consistency... the butter was melted right out of the oven, and more of a softened state in the second part of the scenario). In my culinary class we have cooling racks, I don't have the space for one at home. So what I do is I take two of those yeti style metal cups that are the same size and flip them over. I then put my cookie sheet/cake pan on top of that. What this does is it allows air flow all around the product which disperses the heat. (Metal cups are crucial here... you can't use plastic as plastic melts... please don't make that mistake).
In the video/recipe directions it talks about cleaning your knife between cuts. This is a very important step to keep your brownies perfectly cut. Not cleaning the knife will leave the fudgy residue on the knife which will then stick to your brownies as you cut them and tear them apart. Get a damp paper towel and wipe between each cut.
Another great thing about preparing the pan the way that the video shows... after eating a few brownies, you can take the leftovers and easily slip into a gallon size bag! This keeps the brownies super moist for the next few days..... if they last that long.
So let's start by talking about the italian sausage. Buy the italian sausage that is not in casings if you can (it will be found . If you can't find italian sausage, you can buy ground beef or ground pork and add tablespoon of italian sausage (plus 1/4 teaspoon of red pepper flakes if you want hot italian sausage).
Second ingredient to talk about is the kale. In my grocery stores all I can find is a huge bag of kale. When I buy it, it always go bad prior to me using it again. So I use baby spinach, because I use it a lot quicker than kale.
Chicken stock is preferred over chicken broth. Stock has more flavor than broth.
This makes enough portions for 8 hefty bowls of soup. So be prepared to have leftovers! With soup it is best to put into flatter food storage containers. Keep them uncovered until about to room temperature and then cover and put into the fridge.
The soup reheats well!
Sorry- not a lot of notes on this one. It's a simple, delicious and flavorful soup!
