Thursday, April 14, 2011

Rainy Days and Chocolate

It was another rainy, cold day in western PA. It's time for we farmers to be digging up the ground and planting our crops. We have been blessed with lots of rain - which we will probably be thankful for in the heat of the summer. But...it sure can drag me down. This recipe came to me from Fine Cooking. They send me a recipe a day. This was the day to bake some happiness. So these little beauties created quite a stir on FB yesterday. I have orders from friends and family all over the country and requests for the recipe. I really hope Kenny got the one out of my mailbox I put there for him to pick up. If not, Cindi, the mail lady will get a big surprise. It was down to 34 degrees last night so it should still be good this morning.

                                                            Banana Split Brownies
For the brownies:
1 cup unsalted butter
2/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
3 large eggs
1 medium overripe mashed banana
1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
3/4 cup unsweetened cocoa

For the topping:
3/4 cup plus 2 Tbsp. heavy cream
1/8 cup Banana liqueur (I love this stuff!!! It's like a banana popsicle with a kick!!!)
7 oz. mildly bittersweet chocolate, finely chopped (I use Ghirardelli 60% cacao chips.)
1 cup mini marshmallows
1/4 cup sliced almonds

Make the brownies:
With the rack in the center of the oven; preheat to 350*. Butter and flour the sides and bottom of an 8 inch square glass baking dish.
Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat until it smells nutty and turns golden, 4 to 5 minutes. Remove pan from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Whisk the sugar and salt in. Add the eggs, banana, and vanilla. Whisk in the cocoa and flour, mixing slowly at first and then more vigorously until the batter is combined.
Spread the batter in the prepared baking dish, smoothing it so it fills the pan evenly.
Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center of the pan comes out with just a few moist clumps clinging to it. 40 to 45 minutes.
Let the brownies cool in the pan before topping.

Make the topping:
Bring the cream to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat. Remove from the heat. Stir in the banana liqueur.
Melt the chocolate in a double boiler. Reheat the cream mixture and stir in the melted chocolate until smooth. Remove from heat and let cool for 5 minutes. Pour the ganache(chocolate and cream mixture) evenly over the cooled brownies.
Cover the ganache with the mallows and almonds. Put the broiler rack about 6 inches below flame. Heat broiler on high. Broil the brownies, rotating the pan every 20 seconds or so to keep the mallows from burning, until browned.
Let the brownies cool in the pan until the ganache is set, at least 2 hours.
Enjoy!!!


Instant Happiness!!!

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