Lara Ferroni Photography

Thursday, my husband went to a brutal strength training class at our new gym (since I bailed on him for the nice yoga/pilates combo class). After dinner, he said “Will you bake me something? Something bad for me?” I had been itching to try out some of the chocolate recipes in the Donna Hay Flavors cookbook, so I was more than happy to oblige.

“Flavors” (Donna Hay)

After flipping through, I decided on the brownie recipe, as I actually had all of the ingredients and it looked like it would come together pretty quickly. (I really want to try the malted chocolate puddings and the chocolate chip semi freddo too.) True to form, though, I did stray from the recipe a touch. I used Dark Chocolate cocoa powder instead of regular. I also added a shot of espresso for good measure. The recipe is really simple, and the resulting cake-like brownies are decadent, but a bit lighter than you might expect. If you are careful not to overcook them, you’ll get a nice slightly gooey layer in the middle. Perfect.

Dark Chocolate Espresso Brownies
8 oz sweet cream butter, room temperature
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 shot (1.5 oz) of espresso
1 1/2 cups sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
4 egg whites
3 egg yolks
1 1/3 cups all purpose, unbleached flour
3/4 cup dark chocolate cocoa powder
1/4 tsp baking powder

Preheat oven to 325F. Beat the butter, vanilla and sugars in a bowl and beat until light, smooth and creamy. Add the eggs one at a time, and beat until light. Fold in the espresso. Sift the flour, cocoa and baking powder into the butter mixture. Fold to mix.

Line the baking pan with parchment. Make it a bit wider than the pan, and you can use the paper to pull the whole batch out after it cools. Pour the mixture onto the paper, and spread evenly. Bake for 35 to 45 minutes, or until set. Cool. Cut. Eat.

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