brown butter… 70% chocolate… salt… peanut butter if you want it. enough said.
brown butter (Peanut butter if you like) brownies
Makes 1 tray, 18x30 cm approx
Ingredients
225g unsalted butter
115g 70% chocolate (in chunks/callets or broken into pieces)
200g golden caster sugar
120g light muscovado sugar
4 large eggs or 5 medium (approx 240g total weight)
3/4 tsp fine sea salt
70g cocoa powder (dutched/alkalised)
85-90g flour:
outrageous i know. but there are options depending on what you fancy/want/have/can be bothered with.
You can use all plain flour (85g), or half plain and half glutinous rice flour (use 45g of each for 90g total in this case) - like the chocolate brownie cakes, the glutinous rice flour adds a real fudginess. for the ultimate texture and flavour combo, 30g each: plain flour, glutinous rice flour, rye flour. Rye and chocolate is a fab combo. honestly, any of these flour options will give banging brownies. don’t sweat it. but if you have the ingredients - try the different combos! I’m giving you many reasons to make lots of brownies…
Flaked sea salt for sprinkling
Optional - a few TBSP peanut butter for the middle. You can use any kind, but for brownies you will never beat, try some deep roast (smooth or crunchy)!
Method
Preheat your oven to 160C (Fan)/180C (conventional), and lightly grease your brownie pan and fully line it based and sides with a sheet of parchment/baking paper.
first brown the butter - need a reminder? once browned, remove from the heat, and add the chocolate, stirring to melt and combine.
Whilst the butter is browning, put the eggs and sugars in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk, and beat on a high speed for about 8 minutes, until fluffy, pale and well aerated. You could use a hand whisk for this.
weigh up your dry ingredients (flour, cocoa and salt), and sieve them into a bowl ready for mixing.
Once the butter and chocolate have melted, gently stream them into the egg mixture whilst mixing on a low speed.
Next add the sieved dry ingredients and mix until just combined - scrape down the sides and fold in any dry bits left by hand.
Transfer the mix to the tin - either all the mix and move on to the next step. or put just under half the mix in the tray, and then dot over a few dollops of peanut butter and gently nudge them around to spread it over the batter. Carefully pour the remaining mix over the top making sure to cover all the peanut butter.
Sprinkle with a little flaked sea salt and bake for 16-18 minutes approx… YOu want them to rise, crack at the edges, and have a slight wobble when you take them out.
Leave to cool completely, then for more precise and neat pieces, refrigerate until well set before cutting. you don’t have to, of course.
These will keep well for 5-6 days kept airtight, but they also freeze really well, and are delicious if you eat them a little bit frozen…
