You’ll have to forgive me if I seem a bit out of sorts today. It was a trying weekend around these parts. Saturday morning I awoke to find our heat wasn’t working and, despite our best efforts, we haven’t yet been able to resolve the problem. With temperatures dropping into the single digits for portions of the weekend, you can probably imagine it was a bit stressful. (Oh, and to add insult to injury, my beloved Patriots were knocked out of the playoffs on Sunday night.) Luckily, family and friends came to our rescue with space heaters to keep our rooms warm, food to keep our bellies full, and cute babies to keep our minds off our troubles. With any luck, the heating issue will be resolved today and we can put this weekend behind us. It’s not very often that I look forward to Monday morning, but I’ve got high hopes for this one.
The weekend was so hectic that I didn’t get a chance to bake the treat I’d hoped to share with you this morning; that one will have to wait for later in the week. Instead, I dug into my backlog of draft posts and pulled out these brownies, which are a very worthy back-up plan. I made these for Christmas day, since I knew Shane wouldn’t be a fan of any of the other desserts we’d planned and we didn’t want him to be without a dessert option. Like most brownies, these are quick and easy to whip up, incorporating pretty standard pantry ingredients. The best thing about them though is that they deliver everything you could possibly want in a brownie: a thin, papery crust on top that gives way to a rich brownie below, one that is chewy, fudgy and intensely chocolaty. Unlike a lot of recipes that include instant espresso powder, the espresso doesn’t just serve to enhance the chocolate flavor here. You can definitely taste it in the brownies. I liked the flavor it added, but if you prefer your brownies more simply, just leave the espresso out entirely or reduce the quantity you use.
If we’d had any left, these brownies would have been the perfect remedy to our less than ideal weekend. Hopefully, instead, I can make another batch soon to celebrate the end of our furnace debacle 🙂
Triple-Chocolate Espresso Brownies
from Baking Illustrated
5 oz semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, chopped
2 oz unsweetened chocolate, chopped
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut in quarters
3 tablespoons cocoa powder
1 1/2 tablespoons instant espresso powder
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 1/4 cups (8.75 oz) sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup (5 oz) unbleached all-purpose flour
Preheat oven to 350 F with a rack in the lower middle position. Spray an 8×8-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray. Line the pan with aluminum foil, leaving an overhang on opposing sides so you can lift the brownies out easily once they’re baked. Spray the foil with nonstick cooking spray.
Add the semisweet (or bittersweet) chocolate, the unsweetened chocolate, and the butter to a medium heatproof bowl. Set the bowl over a pan of simmering water and, stirring occasionally, melt until everything is smooth. Whisk in the cocoa powder and espresso until incorporated. Set the bowl aside so the mixture can cool slightly.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, sugar, vanilla and salt until combined, about 15 seconds. Add the warm chocolate mixture to the egg mixture and whisk to combine. Finally, stir in the flour with a rubber spatula or wooden spoon just until incorporated.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking ban, spreading evenly with a rubber spatula to cover the bottom of the pan. Bake the brownies for about 35-40 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. (Do not over bake, or the brownies will dry out.) Transfer the pan to a wire rack and allow the brownies to cool completely in the pan. Use the foil to lift the brownies out of the pan and slice before serving.
Ahh these look gorgeous. I’m going to make these as soon as I recover enough to eat!
These do look delicious – almost good enough to make us feel better about the Pats. Go Steelers? Hope your heat is fixed soon!
I love a good fudgy brownie. I’m not a fan of the cake-y variety.
The moment I saw the title of this post, I clicked over. I planned to make something chocolaty to thank the lady who’s coming over this morning to help me organize my garage. These sound perfect! I hope your heat is fixed soon. It’s great to have family and friends nearby to help make events like that less stressful.
Mmm, now I want brownies. =) I’ve made this recipe numerous times, but none recently. Might have to remedy that… =)
Your brownies look divine!
These do look like the perfect brownie – hope your heat is back on!
Triple chocolate brownies sound like a win-win-win dessert! Sorry about your heat situation, I hope it’s resolved soon.
I think I’d love these with a big mug of steaming coffee! Thanks for sharing and good luck with the heat issue.
The brownies sounds delicious..
Sorry for you loss..”One man’s loss is another man’s win”, so they say. I am a Giants fan (but the Jets ARE a home team!), and they got knocked out, last week too, oh well. There’s always next Year..and a warm brownie in the meantime.
Thanks for posting…Hope you got your heat back..its gonna be cold today!
OMG that sucks, I hope it gets fixed soon. These brownies knock my socks off! Gorgeous pictures
Even though this isn’t what you planned to bake, I think these brownies are just the thing! I’m a brownie fa-reak!!
Sorry about your heat problems. We are having them at work and it really sucks. I any case the brownies look wonderful! I love intensity that espresso adds to chocolate. I am saving this one.
Moist and rich. They look delicious.
Your brownies look awesome!
Thanks for your recipe for the Triple-Chocolate Espresso Brownies. It tasted really good, I have also made Ebony and Ivory Brownies before and it tasted as good as yours. Try out the ones I made, recipe is found on http://www.fourgreensteps.com/community/recipes/desserts-a-goodies-/ebony-and-ivory-brownies
Sending you warm thought! These brownies look so decadent. I love chocolate and coffee together.
These look like the perfect brownie! Hope you are warm and toasty very, very soon!
MMmmmm!!!!Brownies!! If you ha had them this wknd you wouldn’t have noticed the cold.
Love the photo!!!
As expected, they were terrific! I doubled the recipe and baked it in a 13×9 pan. Almost too delicious to share so I’m glad I doubled!
Hope the heats working again and you guys are warming up over there!! The brownies look seriously good.
I am sooo making this tomorrow but while looking at this post, i glanced over at your turtle brownies recipe and now i am so confused as to what i should make tomorrow. They both look so chocolatey…maybe i will make both 😉
@Leslie – I’m glad they turned out well! Thanks for letting me know 🙂
@Cakewhiz – Tough call! I hope you have lots of people to help you eat them if you make both – they’re really decadent.
Nothing warms the soul better than a delicious brownie!
I think this is the epitome of desserts! I need to make these soooo soon!
These brownies look amazing… Triple chocolate AND espresso? Lovely!
The brownies look good but I am still sad about the Patriots loss.
WOW – these look perfect Tracey! How in the world did you get such straight gorgeous edges?
I’ve got these baking right now—the batter is heavenly, and I can only imagine how amazing the brownies will be!