Kurtis' Google Reader
strip for May / 28 / 2010
DeutschInfrastructures
(author unknown)06841076783427897058115050982860153504630569301255153155358017638027842263657607010690936055689055901772504151092117351308420778844244701893094242176326906875691531433412687725747304294526716709191285013944738000889233831049492979163644174216252908107208442307038907315435530822081826648998845287224710487160164665089744056529039030792463800451820131259760744714991225981489354866084950958859685777720073971537090943919716588105126072809119152272783606113469620186788081523689742408654934255096673577071097366940473524191416313197523341779408403974728037578085062726842938804109140034565676461177819910574635757039421851034199099290977912051189998964117589913403366800449720347767145970344326796059900775892771175810077000607089676688672603174606823785499985520321643398309578391711385384340763939643113616878445223249381312322123489503672801178779771489555243119745446622178920870901757804289381980613629003193439437716014399715910429166550203135670105443769807548918755597375870052754820444648013170768353683796467839904298723376762490700124099744098471276851610623001618283744815623160691231884230084513521405430182441736528485931647586210164978834470159719006737342516203467181630744562079312639515055312101227823481073654108029337058410082475510390237855917878502925460749874135648482999103772001692164837330118376005869181505294328402103308288868830323581702963849485518707609227409049784386123144164978794237171811811827765810223370711470127918335354825052491245585329182611274393621853459277308915834275668816438171557155885298338741545236993847528561108861202308399437275040904149504292618911411067905130703314104844019268257809161182391387983038947210578602798432810678312768995466436391898009449785944962430901108831993933572815809301923097858291363024588827996301864071271114267736435899604784936757940613477023603982313662168231820382053388177081500911604760945120664082987754919608051020192296030684871352113765513891441883609021143577301546691521371957435675607412702198266178188866007 Infrastructures
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I've been going back and forth about what to call these. Brownies that have the texture of a fallen chocolate souffle cake. Dense, ooey-gooey chocolate-y on the inside, well-set around the edges - you know the cakes. I thought I'd try to work soufflé into the title, but at the same time, these brownies are completely packed with boozy, port-soaked dried cherries, and doesn't that warrant a mention? I like recipe names to be short enough that the titles don't wrap (when possible), so that was a consideration as well. Port Souffle Brownies? Boozy Brownies? I settled on (small yawn) Chocolate Cherry Brownies and made a batch of them for my sister and brother-in-law. They spent last Saturday working on a Habitat for Humanity project, and early that morning I traded a plate of the brownies for an adorable 1-year old, who spent the day with us.
Here's what you need to know about these brownies. They could very well be the richest, most decadent brownies you've ever tried. They're off-the-charts delicious. They're also off-the-charts messy, and a bit of a pain to slice - particularly if you want to slice them small. Next time, I'm going to chill and slice them, then let them return to room temperature to serve. I'd also recommend slicing them in the pan. The pan lends a good amount of structure.
You can take this general idea and run with it in a thousand different ways. If boozy cherries aren't your thing, I can imagine adding chopped toasted nuts, baking them plain (in a smaller pan), making individual cakes/brownies in ramekins, trying other fruit/alcohol combinations, etc. The original inspiration for these was a recipe I came across in the Bourke Street Bakery cookbook - their version used pitted prunes and brandy. I decided to try cherries, port, muscovado sugar, and creme fraiche. I soaked my cherries for two days, but suspect I could have done fine with a one day soak - all the port had been absorbed by then.