Busy Week Birthday Brownies

I have four days left at school. Four short, busy, test filled, celebratory days. I have spent more than 400 days at my school, and now I only have 4 left. It's sort of crazy.
These are not 4 days of Popsicle licking and movie watching, like they were when I only had 4 more days of kindergarten or even eighth grade. These are 4 days or finals, concerts, and projects that I have put off for far too long. It's also my friend's birthday.
I cannot possibly let a friend's birthday pass without sharing a treat-usually chocolate-with them, and Emma is the last person whose treat should ever be forgotten, and certainly the last person you would dare present with anything other than chocolate. I wanted to make her a Butterfinger type chocolate bar but these bars take hours, or days and involve a whole lot of chocolate tempering. I other words, they are not ideal when you only have about 20 minutes free for the next 7 days.
I have a small arsenal of recipes that I can make in less than 20 minutes, most of them using five ingredients or less. I decided to make Emma one of my favorite recipes from this collection, that also happens to be one of the chocolatyist. Nutella Brownies.

Gotta love silicon baking cups-no messy muffin tins!

If you're really a brownie purist, you may call these brownie bites because they're baked in cupcake liners, but to me, these are brownies because they're a real dessert, not at all like the store bought 2-bite variety. These are gooey, nutty, chocolaty, simple, and soooo good. I especially like them topped with some nocciola ice cream, but this batch is for Emma, so I must resist.

Nutella Brownies

1 cups Nutella
1 c minus 2 Tbs AP flour
4 large eggs
Pinch of salt
A whole bunch of chocolate chips
(I used about 1 1/2 cups, which may sound like overkill but was really really good.)

Preheat your oven to 350ºF. Line a 12 muffin tin with liners.
In a bowl, mix eggs and Nutella until completely combined, add salt and flour 1 cup at a time, and mix until thoroughly incorporated. Fold in the chocolate chips. Divide evenly between the muffin cups and bake for 10 minutes. They should be completely jiggle-less, but an inserted toothpick should come out covered with damp, fudgy crumbs.

Way Better than a Milky Way Homemade Chocolate Truffels

I discovered the Milky Way bar when I was 13 and my boyfriend got me a box of mini chocolate bars for Valentines day. Even though we went out for a grand total of 3 weeks, that boy changed my life. Whether you're a chocolate snob, a lover of anything sweet, or call them by their original name: Mars Bars (ooooh, I just love saying that and I have no idea why) you have to admit that the combination of chocolate, nougat, and caramel is pretty freaking amazing. And if you're like me, you have to admit that you really really just need to experiment with them.

After several attempts at cupcakes, a now semi-famous recipe for brownies, cookies, and an absolutely heavenly recipe for rice krispie treats, using these magic chocolate bars, I decided it was high time I made them myseld, and boy oh boy, am I glad I did. These are not your average chocolate bar. These are rich and salty and malty and bitter. They're buttery and extra chocolatey, and toffee-ish, and amazing. Make them. Please.

                                

I made mine in an ice tray because I spent my baking and cooking budget for the month on chocolate, a giant offset spatula, and a new springform pan. If you want a more traditional looking bar, you can use a chocolate bar mold, or make even smaller bars in a truffle mold but mine broke last time I made truffles, just about a month ago. I know, I have really really good luck in the candy making department.

You do have to temper the chocolate, which can be a challenge, but there really is an easier way than the marble slab method that leaves non-professionals like me with a giant brown mess. You can find easy directions and very detailed instructions and explanations here. Even I was able to follow these directions and end up with shiny chocolate, and I seem to have an inexplicable ability to fudge even the easiest process just because it's labeled as important.

Better than my Favorite Chocolate Bar

Chocolate Caramel
1/4 cup of unsalted butter
1/2 cup of sugar
1/4 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1/2 cup milk (any type)
1/2 cup heavy cream
1/4 cup light corn syrup
6 oz chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp fleur de sel

Malt Nougat
You're going to have some extra, but I can't seem to get the recipe reduced to 
just the right amount. The leftovers are really good frozen in little squares.
2 cups sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup water
2 egg whites
pinch salt
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 Tbs malted milk powder
(Optional toasted almonds for a riff on a Snickers)

For the Caramel:
Combine all ingredients but the salt, chocolate and vanilla in a heavy sauce pan. Cook over medium heat, stirring only every once in a while, until it comes to a boil. Continue cooking until it reaches 240ºF, just under soft ball stage. Remove from the heat and cool to about 200ºF, stir in chocolate and whisk until completely melted. Add vanilla. Pour into a piping bag and wait until the caramel has reached about 80º before piping a layer of caramel over the molded chocolate. top the caramel with a small pinch of fleur de sel. Cool completely before topping with the nougat.

For the Nougat:
Combine sugar, corn syrup, and water in saucepan. Boil the sugar combination, until it reaches 260ºF, without stirring. While syrup is cooking, beat egg whites to form stiff peaks. Add salt and the hot syrup, beating constantly, pouring slowly at first, and speeding up as the eggs temper and get used to the heat. When mixture is stiff, beat with a wooden spoon until creamy. Add the malt and vanilla (almonds), and return to the mixer until the nougat has an almost mousse like texture. When the nougat is still warm (about 70º) pop it into a piping bag and top the salted caramel. Cool completely before finishing it off with the last thin layer of tempered chocolate.


Temper about 1/2 lb of bittersweet chocolate and brush a layer across the bottom and sides of your molds. Cool inverted to allow some dripping.
When cooled, add caramel a little less than 1/2 way up the molds using a piping bag, squeeze bottle or very small spoon(caramel should be about 80ºF) Cool to about 50º.
Fill almost all the way to the top with warm nougat (80º) leaving room for a final layer of chocolate.
After cooling the nougat to about 50º, fill molds to the top with more tempered chocolate and refrigerate for at least 3 hours, until completely set. Unmold and enjoy! 

1 Bowl, Chewy, Caramel-ey, Nougat-ey Brownies

Brownies are probably one of the best desserts in the world. Everybody loves them, they welcome a whole plethora of add-ins, and you can stir them up with just a wooden spoon and a good helping of chocolate. I'm somewhat famous for what my friends call Milky Way brownies (My very long title provides a more appealing home made feeling, I think.) and they're the very first recipe I developed all by myself. I actually developed them as a gift for my little sister on my grade school's cross country team. Nothink like a big brick of chocolate and caramel before a run, eh? Of course, they hav been modified just a little bit since then but only on the most basic level: The quality of the melted chocolate has improved quite a bit. The old semi-sweet chips have been replaced by a decent quality dark chocolate--you don't have to use your best stuff, because there are so many other flavors going on, but I recommend at least 60%--I use 72% Valrhona dark chocolate.

Melted Butter and Chocolate. Need I say more?

They're the perfect brownie base, chewy, fudgy, and not very sweet, swirled with big chunks of Milky Way bars, and topped with salted dulce de leche (I created this recipe when I was 13. What 13 year old wants to bother with making caramel from scratch?) They're a very sentimental dessert.

Isn't this the cutest measuring spoon ever? It's a heart, and I got it as a wedding favor. So creative!

That's why I'm making them today. I went on a brownie bender for the better part of last year, and several of my friends became dangerously addicted to various combinations of chocolate, flour, butter, and sugar. This recipe, though, was always the favorite. Now, I only have a week left with these friends before we all graduate, and I realized I haven't made these brownies all year gasp! This next week is going to be almost too full of bake-worthy occasions, so I made these guys in advance (A whole week in advance) because they freeze and thaw amazingly well. Nobody will ever be able to tell that they weren't fresh made. I hope you get as much joy out of these brownies as I do, and that you share them repeatedly with your best friends and favorite family members -- hopefully all of them.

Now that I'm done getting sentimental about brownies, I do have some very serious notes on this recipe. The brownie batter itself is not very sweet. It's bitter and fragrant with coffee and vanilla. This is very important wo the recipe. There are so many super sweet additions that the brownies really do need the so if you're planning on using the caramel and candy technique with your own recipe, make sure your basic brownie recipe isn't overly sweet, and leans on the side of dark. Otherwise, you'll end up with a sickly sweet baked candy bar. Trust me. I've made this mistake more than once.
Oh, and make sure to keep a glass of milk within 3 inches of your plate (Or the pan if you're digging straight in) these are both fudgy and chewy. Dense + Chocolate = Thirsty.

Chewy, Caramel-ey, Nougat-ey Brownies
(Serves 16 if cut into 2 inch squares)

5 oz. Chopped dark chocolate
1 stick Unsalted butter
1 cup Light brown sugar, lightly packed
2 extra Large eggs (you can use regular large too)
1 1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 tsp Instant espresso or coffee
2 Tbs Sour cream or plain yogurt
1/4 tsp Salt
2 Tbs cocoa powder (Not Dutch process or the Hershey's combination stuff)
1 Cup all purpose flour
15 mini Milkey Way fun size or 24-30 minis
1/2 can Dulce de leche (cook sweetened condensed milk, covered, in a double boiler for 45-50 minutes)
1 tsp Flaked sea salt (A couple good grinds from a salt grinder will do)

For the Brownies:
Preheat oven to 350ºF.
In a microwave safe bowl, melt the chopped chocolate and butter in 20 second bursts, stirring in between. Mix in eggs one at a time, until all combined. Stir in sugar, sour cream, coffee, vanilla, and salt. Add cocoa powder and flour and stir until completely combined. Fold in 12 of the Milky Ways (if using the larger Fun Size bars, cut them in half before adding) Pour into a prepared 8x8 inch square pan. Cut the 3 remaining bars into 8ths and sprinkle over the top of the brownies. Bake for 20 minutes.

For the Caramel Topping:
Mix half (or more) of the dulce de leche with the sea salt. After the brownies have cooked for 20 minutes, top them with blobs of the salted caramel. Return to the oven and bake for 15-20 more minutes or until the brownies have just started pulling away from the sides of the pan, but are nowhere near burned. If you're not sure, go with the 15 minute mark. They're amazingly good when they're slightly under done.