French Chocolate Brownies

Julia Moskin’s got a terrific story about Brownies in the Dining section of today’s New York Times and I’m delighted that she’s included my recipe for French Chocolate Brownies.  I’m crazy about these brownies and love the story of how they came about.

The first time I made the recipe I was in Paris, preparing dinner for friends and thinking I was making a fondant for dessert.  Fondant, a creamy chocolate cake, is one of only a handful of sweets the French make for themselves at home.  I made my fondant in a square pan (not usual, but not so far-out) and added rum-flamed raisins (again, not usual, but not heretical either).  I cut the cake into squares and got the following reaction when I brought it to the table:  “Ooh, brownies – splendide!”

Fondant? Brownies?  Who was I to argue?  Maybe my friends assumed that if an American was offering them a soft, thin, crackle-topped chocolate cake cut into squares, it had to be brownies.  It didn’t really matter to me.  I liked the recipe in Paris and I liked it just as much when I re-tested it in the States.

Because Julia Moskin is a brownie-purist – she’ll allow nuts, but that’s the limit on add-ins – she understandably clipped the raisins from the recipe.  Without raisins, the brownies are a creamy, profoundly chocolaty tender treat; with them, they’re all that with a touch of exoticism tossed in.

If you want to add raisins to the brownies, here’s how to do it:

RUM-FLAMED RAISINS, for French Chocolate Brownies

(Adapted from Baking, From My Home to Yours)

1/3 cup raisins, dark or golden

1 1/2 tablespoons water

1 1/2 tablespoons dark rum

Put the raisins in a small saucepan with the water, bring to a boil over medium heat and cook until the water almost evaporates.  Add the rum, let it warm for about 30 seconds, turn off the heat, stand back and flame the rum.  When the flames have died, set the raisins aside until needed.  Right before you’re ready to put the brownie batter in the pan, fold in the raisins.

Comments

[Tamami]

Wow, rum flamed raisins?! Yum, that sounds amazing. I've never tried 'flaming' alchohol ever, but you've inspired me - so on this occassion, I think I'll try conquer my fear of it, & give it a go!
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I sell brownies on my stall. I call it 'Luxury Brownies' because I put nuts (pistachio, etc) in it & use organic chocolate. I think nuts make the brownie interesting til the last bite.
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Anyway, I'm so happy that I have come across your blog! I have the P. Herme book & love the style of your writing!

[Blame It on Paris]

P.S. Thanks for the prompt tip! And glad you liked the macarons. :) I was quite proud of my feet, I had heard they were hard to pull off and this was my first try! :)

Laura Florand

[Blame It on Paris]

Flat, flat, flat. It's not the flavor so much, as I recall (I gave up several years ago), but the consistency. Hmm. I didn't know the flour was weaker, but that makes sense now. Maybe an extra fourth a cup of flour would help?

Of course, when I make cookies for my French in-laws when they visit me in the U.S., they often try to put them back in the oven because they're convinced they're not cooked enough! You know how dry French biscuits usually are. But they did finally take to the chocolate chip cookie on their last visit here, when they accepted it for what it was.

[Dorie]

Laura/Blame It On Paris, I've never tried to make chocolate-chip cookies in Paris, but I can see where it would be easy to run into problems. The "default" brown sugar in Paris is not the same as ours and, of course, their butter is richer and their flour a little weaker. Do you end up with flatter cookies in Paris? Or just cookies that don't taste like the all-American faves?

[Blame It on Paris]

I love the idea of rum-flamed raisins! I will have to try these. Dorie, have you ever tried to make chocolate chip cookies in France? I like to make American classics for my family there (that's what they ask me for! that and Oreos! :) ), but I have never gotten these to turn out well with French ingredients, and I'm not sure where the problem is. It seems like such a forgiving recipe.

Laura Florand

[Cenk]

Hi Dorie!!! I didn't know that you had a blog. I am so glad to have found it. I have been experimenting with the sweet tart dough recipe from Baking: From My Home to Yours and I must say that it is the best tart dough recipe I have ever tasted. I have so far baked cinnamon cookies and pistachio tarts with it. I am also obsessed with the chocolate pastry cream recipe in Chocolate Desserts by Pierre Herme. I am a huge fan of your recipes. They are so detailed and extremely easy to follow. It is impossible to make mistakes with those thorough instructions. Many thanks for the continuous inspiration. Cenk

[Randi]

I wonder if anyone has made these for the Egullet brownie bake-off? Hmmm, I might have to be the first. ( I'll leave the raisins in too)

[Helen]

I had to make those without the raisins because of my husband's dislike for them (small word) and they were incredible.
I can totally see a bunch of French people calling them brownies because I know I did. We are very picky about our chocolate cakes!
I have to try the rum raisins next. too bad for him!

[Dorie]

Sarah, I don't mean to laugh at your troubles with the raisins, but the picture of you and your husband ankle-deep in snow trying to get the rum to light is hilarious. I'm really, really glad that, in the end, your outdoor adventures were worth it and you liked the snails. By the way, the reason to flame the rum is to burn off some of the alcohol and concentrate the rum's flavor.

[Sarah Campbell]

Dorie, I tried the rum-flamed raisins when I made the brioche raisin snails in January and it didn't work very well. I was afraid to light the rum in the house so I carried the pan out to the snow-covered deck and tried it. I used fireplace matches which I couldn't get lit. They kept breaking. My husband decided to help me by lighting matches inside the house. They kept breaking for him also. I stood out in the snow listening to him breaking matches and cussing. Snap, snap, #%$*! snap. Of course, by the time we got a match lit the alcohol was long gone and my feet were frozen. I may skip the flaming raisins in the future. Does the flaming make that much difference in their taste? Btw, I ate four snails as fast as I could cram them in. They were wonderful!

[Dorie]

The editor on my first cookbook cut the raisins out of lots of my recipes and would remind me repeatedly that not everyone in the world loves raisins as much as I do. Given the chance, I'd put raisins in everything (or maybe I'd use Brilynn's Armagnac-flamed dates), but I have to fess up -- the brownies were really very good without them, which is the way you see them in the photo. I made vanilla ice cream with chunks of bittersweet chocolate to serve with them, but writing this makes me realize I missed an interesting opportunity: I could have put the rum-flamed raisins in the ice cream!

Almost Vegetarian -- thanks for the giggle. I hope you'll make the brownies this weekend when your husband is around and that you'll write to tell me about them before you go comatose.

[Brilynn]

The rum-flamed raisins are essential!
I made your classic brownies recently and added in some Armagnac flamed dates, very good!

[almost vegetarian]

Good lord, that looks incredible. I am extremely tempted to ditch the nice, healthy dinner I have planned and make these instead. And I would, too, only my husband would come home to find me half-gorged and entirely-comatose, sprawled out on our living room couch with tell-tale chocolate crumbs about my mouth and chin. Not a pretty picture, indeed.

I know. I'll make them this weekend when he is home, too. We can gorge together!

But, first, I need to test that rum.

Cheers!