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Brownie Sachertorte
My birthday was a while ago… 21 days ago to be exact. But I was in New Orleans deeply involved in the exams/graduation/packing-to-move plans and didn’t get a cake or anything, so my mom promised, when I got home, to make me one of my favorite desserts of all time: Brownie Sachertorte
Plus there is the added amusement of talking about a good type of torte. Instead of assault, kidnapping, and intentional infliction of emotional distress, this is chocolate and butter and raspberry!
Brownie Sachertorte
3oz unsweetened baking chocolate
1/2 cup shortening
3 eggs - beaten!
1 1/2 cup sugar
1 1/4 tsp vanilla
1/4 tsp salt
1 cup flour
1/3 cup raspberry jam (ish)
Glaze
1 oz unsweetened baking chocolate
2 tbsp butter
2 tbsp light corn syrup
1 cup powdered sugar
1 tbsp milk
1 tsp vanilla
For the brownies: Melt chocolate and and shortening on the stove top. Allow to cool.
Add eggs, sugar, vanilla, and salt.
Blend in the flour.
Stir just until combined.
Bake in greased 8-in square pan at 325 degrees for 40 min.
Spoon jam onto the hot brownies. Let it cool completely.
For the glaze: melt the chocolate and butter together. Blend in the corn syrup, milk, and vanilla. Beat in the powdered sugar, being careful to get out all the lumps.
Gently spread the glaze over the jam, trying your best not to incorporate the two but leaving two separate layers.
Cut into squares and enjoy!!!
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Best Ever Dark Chocolate Brownies
Its exam time. And I, being my usual graceful, completely not-klutzy and not-distracted self, shut two of my fingers in my friend’s car door. They aren’t broken. The doctor said it would have been an easier heal if they had been broken. Sigh. Very, very me.
So I need brownies. Not just any brownies but amazing, decedent, death by chocolate brownies.
There are hundreds of brownie recipes and variations out there. My basic go-to brownie recipe is the Fudgey Brownies from the Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book (though how new a book that says it has been the #1 cookbook in America since 1930 on the cover can really be is a matter for debate). I have been making these brownies for years and really, as long as you don’t overcook them, they can’t go wrong no matter what you decide to add in or do to them.
The brownies I made this week are a great case in point.
Best Ever Dark Chocolate Brownies
From Better Homes and Gardens New Cook Book
1/2 cup butter (salted)
2 ounce squares of unsweetened chocolate
3 tbsp Hershey’s Special Dark Unsweetened Cocoa Powder
1 tbsp oil
1 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 1/2 tsp good vanilla
1/3 cup flour
1/4 tsp baking soda
9 - 12 oz chopped dark chocolate
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 8x8x2 inch baking pan and set aside.
In a saucepan melt the butter and unsweetened chocolate, stirring constantly. Remove from the heat and add in the cocoa powder and oil. Allow to cool - or if you are impatient like me, just stir it a whole bunch and then declare it cool enough when you can touch the bottom of the pan without hurting your hand (Note: this is not the recommended method and I am not responsible for any burns. I just don’t want to wait for my brownies any longer than I have to… but.. hmmm… more about that later).
Stir in sugar and the eggs one at a time. Stir like crazy after each addition. Add in the vanilla. You can mix the flour and baking soda together in a small bowl here (again, that is recommended) or hmm, just pour in the flour and stir—then when the flour is like 2/3rds of the way incorporated, add in the baking soda and stir until just mixed (washing the extra bowl is no fun).
Mix in your chopped chocolate. I highly and enthusiastically recommend using a Cadbury dark chocolate bar chopped up here! But if you don’t have one on hand and well, if you fingers hurt and you really don’t want to drive, you can use whatever you happen to have. I happened to have half a bag of Cadbury mini solid chocolate eggs left over from Easter. So that is what I used.
And you know what.. it kinda tastes like the best M&M you have ever had and I like it.
Pour the batter into the prepared baking dish and bake for 30 minutes. I often have to go 35 minutes but be sure to check at 30. You don’t want to over-bake these. All the other added chocolate makes the toothpick method hard to determine if they are done, so instead I just look to see if it’s set and has a just-beginning-to-crack top. And the house will smell heavenly too.. that is a helpful clue.
Allow to cool and eat.. or hmm… (as you can see from the picture), just barely allow to cool and eat a piece while the brownies are still warm and the chocolate is all melty and delicious.
Just make sure you have lots of milk or tea on hand!
