Crockpot Dark Chocolate Brownies

This recipe is a little bit more hands-on and labor intensive than baking up a batch of the same in an oven. With just over two and a half hours of "baking" to go, the kitchen smells really good right now.. like freshly baked brownies. The brownies cook most of the time with the heat of the ceramic base of the slow cooker and also by steam. The final half hour is done with the lid off the cooker. Hopefully it'll be ready in time for tonight's "slow cooked foods potluck".

Ingredients

1 1/4 c all-purpose flour

1/4 c organic sweet ground cocoa

1/2 c organic granulated sugar

3/4 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp kosher salt

1/2 c (1 stick) unsalted butter, cut into tablespoon chunks

9 oz dark chocolate, chopped into 1/2" chunks

3 eggs, lightly beaten

Directions

1. In a heatproof bowl, microwave butter and dark chocolate together in 30-second intervals, stirring each time until the chocolate is melted. About 1.5 minutes.

2. In a small bowl, lightly beat eggs together with sugar.

3. In a larger mixing bowl, whisk together dry ingredients. Add melted butter/chocolate mixture. Stir to combine. Add egg mixture and stir to combine.

4. Lightly butter the center of some parchment paper and place in the bottom of the slow cooker. Add the brownie mixture and use a spatula to smooth the top.

5. Cover and set cooker on "low" for 4 hours. Cook with lid on for 3.5 hours, and then with the lid off for another half hour.

6.  Remove brownies from crockpot and let cool on a wire rack for at least an hour before cutting into.

Flourless Chocolate Brownies

These brownies were surprisingly moist and very tasty, despite lacking wheat flour. This recipe is adapted from the Whole Foods recipe archive. I have never known chocolate chips to contain grain-based gluten (seeing how it is a dairy product) which makes me a bit puzzled about how Whole Foods lists its ingredients. It's a lot like seeing "gluten free" prominently displayed on a can of tomatoes, for example. Ridiculous. This type of buzz word packaging does little to promote the health benefits of the actual food item. Anyhow, on to the recipe.

These are also called black bean brownies. I suspect that a variant could also be made using red lentils. There are two methods. One is to use canned black beans; and the other method is to prepare dry black beans for this recipe. Neither method uses additional salt, but if you use the latter method, you could add a pinch of salt to balance out the sweetness. Before you consider looking at ratio tables for dry beans to cooked beans, keep in mind that beans have different sizes and weighs, and thus different cooking times.

For black beans, use 2/3 cup dry black beans to make an equivalent of one 15 oz can of cooked beans. While I have both dry and canned black beans, I am using the can method for this recipe. My particular can o' beans came with salt so I didn't add any salt to the recipe.

Ingredients

One (15 oz) can organic black beans, drained and rinsed
3 large eggs
1/4 c. unsalted butter, melted
1/4 c. Ghirardelli sweet ground chocolate (cocoa powder)
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 c. organic granulated sugar
1/3 c. semi-sweet chocolate chips

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

1. Butter an 8" x 8" baking dish and set aside.

2. Pureé together in a food processor: black beans, eggs, cocoa powder, vanilla extract, sugar, and butter.

3. As the mixture is poured into the prepared baking dish, sprinkle in the chocolate chips.

4. Bake for 30 minutes or until the center has set. Let cool before cutting into squares. 

Kitchen tip: If your honey has crystallized in its jar, you can put the honey jar in the oven (when turned off and cooling). When the oven has cooled down, the honey will be liquefied again. Pretty neat, huh?

Related info:
Black beans, nutritional info
Whole Foods - About Black Beans

Dark chocolate molds

So, I have this flat sheet mould that I used to make the chocolate fish. The mould was from a kit to make soap, but that's a crafty adventure for another post.

Directions to melt chocolate

1. Water-bath / double boiler method

a. chop chocolate into smaller pieces and put it in a heat-proof bowl that fits snugly on top of a saucepan that has been filled with water.

b. Bring the saucepan to a simmer and stir the chocolate until it melts completely (it should look smooth and shiny); be sure to have the stove heat low enough so that the water doesn't boil. Turn off the heat once the chocolate has all melted.

Directions for Tempering Chocolate

The Cooking for Engineers blog has a good explanation of how this is done and why it is different than just melting chocolate.

Filling the mould

Spoon the chocolate into the mould, but don't overfill it. If the chocolate is still warm, you can gently swirl the spoon around in the melted chocolate to fill the detailed parts (like the fish's fins). Tap the mould on the counter to settle the surface of the chocolate as well as release any air bubbles.

Refrigerate the mold for about 30 minutes until the chocolate has set. Invert the mould onto a wax paper or parchment paper and chill it again.

Now then, I need to find a natural way to keep this chocolate from melting at room temperature. They look fine after having set in the refrigerator; but there's not a whole lot I can do with it.

Dark chocolate chunk cookies

This recipe isn't my own, but it is very good. I've used all types of dark chocolate in this recipe and sometimes I add chunks of milk chocolate into it. You could always just use a bag of semi-sweet chocolate chips but what's the fun in that? I prefer hacking apart the Ghirardelli chocolate wedges with a hammer and chisel. It's very relaxing. If I wanted the chunks to look pretty, I'd use a santoku.

Anyhow, the original recipe. And, have I ever mentioned how wrong it is to put nuts into desserts, especially cookies? If I wanted texture, I'd add more chocolate.. Here's my version, and a pic of the 5/17/07 batch:

Ingredients

1 c. unsalted butter, softened but not melted
1 c. light brown sugar
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 c. unbleached cane sugar
1 egg

Blend these together until creamy in bowl #1.

1 1/2 c. unbleached white flour
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 c. cocoa powder

Sift these together in bowl #2 before blending them with bowl #1. Don't over mix. Blend until just combined.

Refrigerate the cookie dough for 1+ hours, or overnight.

Preheat yer oven to 350 degrees. Bake as usual.

Dark chocolate pistachio bark

So, last night I tried the JoC recipe for making dark chocolate truffles. Except, here's the thing. The book told me to chill the ganache for 3-4 hours then use a melon baller or pastry bag to pipe out the truffles. Uhh. After an hour in my fridge the ganache was rock hard and I couldn't even spoon it out.

Ingredients:

8 oz dark chocolate, chopped
1/2 c. heavy cream
1/4 c. - 1/2 c. lightly toasted pistachios, whole or chopped

JoC ganache directions:

1. In a small saucepan, scald the cream.
2. Put the chopped choclate in a heatproof bowl. Pour the cream onto the chocolate and stir until the chocolate has melted (glossy and shiny) and the cream is entirely encorporated.
3. Let cool to room temperature, then cover with plastic wrap.

I'd say that if you're going to make truffles, don't refrigerate the ganache. But, you won't be able to make truffles while the ganache is still liquidy. Yeah, I suppose I could always read what other people have done when making this confection but what'd be the point of experimenting? The universe would be a really boring place if everything came pre-explained.

Let's say that you managed to not follow the JoC instuctions through the refrigeration stage and you have a bowl of warm ganache.

Chocolate bark directions:

Line a baking sheet with parchment (or silpat, if you prefer) and pour the ganache onto the parchment. If you don't have an off-set spatula, use the back of a spoon to smooth out the surface so that the chocolate is evenly distributed.

Next, add your whole or chopped nuts. I used pistachios because I had them on hand and you really don't see chocolate pistachio bark at the store. Just about any type of nut can be used, raw or lightly toasted.

Now you can refrigerate the chocolate bark so that it sets in a few hours. The confection is done once the parchment paper peels off cleanly from the bark. Chop it into squares, trianges, or other shapes, or break it apart roughly.

In the ganache step 1, if you wanted add a unique flavor to the chocolate, you can add spices to this step. Just strain out the hard bits before you add the cream to the chopped chocolate.