There’s a handful of my mom’s recipes with which I grew up, that I know aren’t actually my mom’s, but as far as I’m concerned they belong to her. Before computers were the norm, whenever she would read a recipe in a newspaper or magazine that she wanted to try, she would cut it out and paste it into one of her MANY organized spiral-bound scrapbooks. And when I say many, I mean many. Organized much as I organize my recipes now (but on the computer) she has a cakes book, probably a few cookie books, a brownies/bars book…you get the picture. All indexed with one bigger table of contents book, which is simply a list of the recipes (again, organized by category), pointing you to the right book and hand-numbered page on which to find it. If you know me, I think you understand me just a bit better now.
Anyways, there were maybe four or five recipes she would always make - they were her “showstoppers,” or maybe “jaw droppers” would be a more apt title. This is one of them. A while back I went through her books to find them, took pictures of the recipes, and put them in a folder on my computer called “Mom Recipes”. I promise to share them all with you, because they are simply too good to be kept a secret.
These are truly the most decadent chocolate-raspberry anything I’ve ever had, and actually aren’t too complicated to make! Huzzah!
Happy Baking!
Adapted from Mom (but probably Bon Appetit from the 80s or 90s)
MAKES 30 small brownies
INGREDIENTS/SUPPLIES
3 ounces unsweetened chocolate, chopped
6 Tablespoons butter
2 eggs
1.5 cups sugar (300g)
3 Tablespoons powder sugar
1 cup all-purpose flour (120g)
3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 Tablespoons seedless Raspberry jam
1/2 teaspoon raspberry vinegar (or red wine vinegar if you don’t have it)
1/4 cup seedless Raspberry jam
1/4 teaspoon raspberry vinegar (or red wine vinegar if you don’t have it)
2 ounces bittersweet or semisweet chocolate, chopped
3 Tablespoons seedless Raspberry jam
2 Tablespoons butter
1/8 teaspoon raspberry vinegar (or red wine vinegar if you don’t have it)
a few small mixing bowls (one microwave safe)
food processor
stand mixer
whisk
spatula
9x9 pan
heavy duty aluminum foil
baking spray or extra butter
DIRECTIONS
Melt your 3oz unsweetened chopped chocolate and 6TB of butter (cut up into pieces) in the microwave, about 1 minute. Whisk until fully combined, then put in the fridge until ready to use.
In your food processor (a mini one if you have it), grind your 300g sugar (1.5c) and 3TB powdered sugar until very fine, 2-3 minutes. Alternatively, you can buy superfine sugar (but make sure to weigh it!) and whisk it in with the powdered sugar.
In your stand mixer, cream your 2 eggs and sugar mixture on medium-high for about 5 minutes, until the mixture is pale yellow and it ribbons off of the beater when you lift up the mixer head.
While that’s mixing, whisk together your 120g AP flour, 3TB cocoa, and 1/2tsp salt and set aside.
Once your egg/sugar mixture is ready, add 2TB seedless raspberry jam and 1/2tsp raspberry vinegar, mix until combined.
Mix in your cooled chocolate mixture.
Add your flour/cocoa/salt and mix on medium-low until just combined and no traces of flour remain. Give the batter a final mixing by hand with a spatula to break up any clumps of flour, and incorporate any batter that might have stuck to the bottom of the bowl.
Spread evenly in your 9x9 pan and bake for ~32 minutes until the middle is set (not jiggly under the hard top crust when you touch it gently or shake the pan), and it’s begun to pull away from the sides. The top may crack a bit - that’s okay.
A few minutes before it’s done baking, whisk together 1/4c seedless raspberry jam and 1/4tsp raspberry vinegar until smooth.
As soon as the brownies come out of the oven, pour the jam/vinegar mixture over and spread it across the brownies evenly (and gently) with the back of a spoon.
Cool the brownies completely before the next step - feel free to use the fridge or a cold outside porch to speed up the process.
To make the glaze, melt 2oz bitter- or semi-sweet chopped chocolate with 3TB seedless raspberry jam, 2TB butter, and 1/8tsp raspberry vinegar in the microwave, about 1 minute. Whisk until fully combined, then let stand about 30 minutes until cool but still pourable.
Spread glaze over brownies and let stand until chocolate sets, at least 2 hours.
Use the excess sides of the aluminum foil to carefully lift the brownies out of the pan, placing onto a cutting board. Fold down the sides of the aluminum and cut the brownies into five equal strips, then cut each strip into six individual brownies. The cuts will be cleanest if you use a warm knife, and wipe it off with a damp paper towel in between each cut.
