This cakey brownie will delight chocolate lovers from coast to coast., p. 84

RECIPE LINK

I published this blog earlier in the day and had no time to elaborate on the story behind these brownies. If you’ve been following this blog, you know that I often signal mistakes I’ve made or high learning curves I’ve failed to achieve by the word DETOUR. Well, I had a major detour on this desert. But, as it turns out, the detour led to something unexpectedly wonderful – or so say my discerning French III students.

Things started off well. This was the second time in as many days that I melted chocolate with my version of a double boiler. All’s well.

After melting the chocolate, I needed to 1) cream the butter and sugar (three minutes), 2) add the melted/cooled chocolate, 3) add the dry ingredients – all in our wonderful Kitchen Aid stand mixer that we received as a wedding present 16+ years ago! It’s finally getting a real workout. Again, all is going well up to this point.

Ahah! This photo is misleading. The brownie underneath the cream cheese icing is already cooked. BUT IT SHOULD NOT HAVE BEEN COOKED YET. I was supposed to spread the icing on top of the uncooked brownie mixture, then bake it all together. Should have been left with a kind of cheesecake layer on top of the brownie. But NOOOOOOOO. I had a great brownie with a liquidy cheesecake icing on top.

I had this epiphany at 6:45 AM. I needed to be at school at 7:30 for a meeting and ready to roll for the first three blocks of the day. My school work was in order. But………. Would I risk a patissorial intervention with only 30 minutes to work with. I consulted the TRUE COOK of the house, my wife. She supported the following: 1) place it all back in a preheated oven for 10 minutes, 2) followed by 3 minutes of low-level broil from above. (Note: patissorial = adjective; anything having to do with a patisserie)

The photo above was the result; but the photo doesn’t communicate the reality too well. What really came out? SOMETHING AMAZING! A rich, chocolate, slightly chewy, cakey brownie with a crème brulée topping. The creme cheese remained reasonably thick but still fluid enough to flow; the top was the thinnest layer of golden sugar glass. That’s my take on it. Please read the comments below to see my students’ take on it.

If YOU would like to leave a comment, please do.

Merci à tous