These brownies have a long history. They were meant to be a gift. Baked, cooled, wrapped and parcelled off to another city. I had never parcelled any food item till date and the apprehension of the container getting distorted and the contents squished was rampant in my mind. But this was a birthday and a cake was mandatory. I could obviously order a cake from a bakery in the city concerned, but then personal touches go a long way, methinks. And so I decided to take the gamble and courier something sweet. Packing a birthday cake with frosting or ganache would have been a stupid idea, so these brownies seemed like a safe bet. Moist, fudgy, chocolaty — not exactly a birthday cake, but almost there!
The other day when I was taking stock of my pantry (something I do every other day now), I realised half a jar each of walnuts and almonds had been sitting there for quite a while. I have a couple of bars of dark chocolate lying in my fridge and a few spoonfuls of cocoa at the bottom of the box, waiting to be finished off. So instead of the Ras Malai, Nolen Gurer Payesh and Anarosh Kishmish Malpua that I made last year for Pujo, this time I think it is going to be brownies. The decadent Triple Chocolate Walnut Almond kind!
Ingredients:
Butter, cut in small cubes: 100 gm
Dark Chocolate, roughly chopped: 200 gm (I used Lindt 70% dark)
Caster Sugar: 1/2 cup (you can use more or less depending upon the kind of chocolate you are using)
Eggs: 2
Flour, sifted: 1/3 cup
Vanilla bean paste/vanilla essence: 2 tsp
Cocoa powder: 2 tbsp
Dark Chocolate chips: 1/2 cup
Walnuts, chopped roughly: 1/2 cup
Almonds, chopped roughly: 1/2 cup
Method:
1. Preheat your oven to 170 degree Celsius and line a square baking pan with parchment paper and butter and flour the sides. Set aside.
2. On a double boiler melt the butter and chocolate stirring frequently till it has turned into a smooth luscious liquid. Pour the melted chocolate in a big bowl (where you’re going to make your batter) and let it cool for 10-15 min till it comes to room temperature or at least is no more than lukewarm.
3. In another bowl, whisk in the sugar, eggs and vanilla till smoothly blended.
4. Now add the egg-sugar mixture into your chocolate mixture in whisk thoroughly. Your batter will start becoming slightly fudgy at this stage.
5. Now gently fold in the sifted flour and cocoa powder.
6. Finally, tumble the chocolate chips, walnuts and almonds and mix well.
7. Bake for 35-45 minutes till the top looks dry, crumbly and pale brown and a cake tester inserted in the middle comes out either with just a few moist crumbs.
8. Let it cool on a wire rack for 20-30 minutes before unmoulding. Cut into 9 big squares or 12 medium ones. Pop it in your mouth as it is, enjoy with a glass of milk or serve warm brownies decoratively with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.
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I am sending this post for Kolkata Food Bloggers’ Durga Puja special event.
