Sometime in early December, as I was perusing the Daring Bakers website, I noticed an ad on the site for a chocolate competition hosted by Hotel Chocolat, a UK-based purveyor of fine chocolates. The deal was simple: Submit your favorite chocolate-based recipe and their panel would pick a winner.
My all-time favorite and most acclaimed recipe is for Santa Fe Brownies, an unctuous concoction of 12 ounces of chocolate (bittersweet and semi-sweet) and cream cheese. I can’t quite recall how I got hold of this recipe. I believe my mom gave it to me, but she can’t remember where she got it from. It took me all of 2 minutes to copy my recipe onto the site’s registration and to submit it. Needless to say, I was dumbfounded when I received an email, from the marketing company behind the contest, telling me I had won! :0
Shortly after Christmas, I received my prizes: a box of Pink Champagne Truffles and a copy of the 101 Best Loved Chocolate Recipes Book. The truffles are to die for, and the book is chock-full of scrumptious recipes (chocolate pasta anyone?…). Thank you Hotel Chocolat! It was a very nice after-Christmas present.
I baked Santa Fe Brownies while at my mother’s over the holidays. Our guests at Christmas all got to take a slab home. That recipe is definitely a winner in everyone’s book. Here’s the recipe. It’s a little-time consuming, but well worth the effort.
Santa Fe Brownies
1 cup plus 1 teaspoon butter
6 squares (6 ounces) unsweetened chocolate coarsely chopped
6 squares (6 ounces) semisweet chocolate, coarsely chopped
1 _ cups all-purpose flour
1 _ teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
5 large eggs
1 _ cups firmly packed brown sugar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 _ cups walnuts, broken into large pieces
Cream Cheese Mixture
12 ounces cream cheese, at room temperature
6 tablespoons butter, softened (no substitutions)
1 _ teaspoons vanilla extract
3/4 cup granulated sugar
3 large eggs
Instructions :
1.Preheat oven to 350 F. Line a 13x 9 inch baking pan with foil. Melt 1 teaspoon of the
butter and brush the bottom and sides of the pan with it. Melt the unsweetened
chocolate, semisweet chocolate, and the remaining 1 cup of butter in top of a double
boiler over simmering water. Set mixture aside and cool slightly.
2. Stir together the flour, baking powder, and salt in a medium bowl. Beat the eggs in a
large mixing bowl at medium speed until just blended. Add the brown sugar, granulated
sugar, and vanilla: beat just until smooth. Beat in the chocolate mixture, then flour
mixture, at low speed just until combined. Reserve 2 1/4 cups batter. Stir the walnuts
into remaining batter in the mixing bowl. Spread the batter in the prepared pan.
3. For Cream Cheese Mixture, beat the cream cheese and butter in a clean mixing bowl
at medium speed until smooth. Gradually beat in the vanilla and sugar until light and
fluffy. Add the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition and beat just until
smooth. Spoon the mixture over the chocolate batter in prepared pan, spreading to
edges to the pan.
4.Stir reserved chocolate batter to soften. Spoon the batter over the cream cheese
layer. With a knife, cut through batters in a zigzag pattern to marbleize slightly. Bake 1
hour 15 minutes , until toothpick inserted in center comes out barely clean. (If the top
browns too quickly during baking, cover the pan loosely with foil.) Cool completely in the
pan on a wire rack. Invert onto a cookie sheet; gently lift off pan and remove foil. Invert
again, cover tightly with plastic wrap and refrigerate overnight.
5. With a long, sharp knife, cut brownies into squares, then cut each quarter into 8
squares. (Can also be cut into slabs and frozen.) Makes 32.
Enjoy!
Dolores 12:37 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Great job! I love the tales of your time with Chef Tony. And I’m with you on the egg whites… after the last few challenges I was growing weary of egg white omelettes. 🙂
sher 1:32 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Oh, I feel so inadequate! Your pie looks marvelous–the way you did the meringue is splendid.
Pixie 2:16 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Looks great, well done!
Rosa 3:26 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Your pie looks really great! Good job!
Cheers,
Rosa
Babeth 5:13 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
congratulations my “daring friend” your pie looks very yummy!!
Katia 7:18 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Hi, Your pie looks great! I like the circular design on the meringue.
Aparna 8:19 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Your pie looks good. I especially liked the design on the meringue, a nice change from the “hedgehoggy” look.:)
Amber 8:38 am on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Your pie looks wonderful. Congratulations on the sucessful challenge.
culinography 12:20 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Looks wonderful! Great job on this month’s challenge!
Adriana 1:37 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Excellent job!!! your pie it’s beatiful!!!
Congratulations! 🙂
Tina 4:04 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Great job!! I love the spiral of your meringue. It looks amazing!
Iisha 4:51 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Looking great… good job.
Iisha
breadchick 7:04 pm on January 28, 2008 Permalink |
Nice job on your challenge! The right mixer sure helps with some tasks doesn’t it!!
Jess 12:35 am on January 29, 2008 Permalink |
Nice swirls and lovely thick lemon curd
Big Boys Oven 1:39 am on January 29, 2008 Permalink |
such a huge pie…. we love it and not hate but adore it, well done!
Deborah 8:49 am on January 29, 2008 Permalink |
Your pie looks wonderful! I love the swirls on your meringue.
Maryann 1:57 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink |
The meringue spiral is hypnotizing me! haha. Great job you!
Kaykat 6:10 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink |
Yum! The lemon curd looks perfect!
Lisa 11:42 pm on January 29, 2008 Permalink |
Looks great, good job 🙂
Ivonne 1:57 pm on January 30, 2008 Permalink |
Well done! Your meringue is so nicely browned!
acupofjoy 12:24 am on January 31, 2008 Permalink |
Your lemon curd looks lovely! Wonderful!
Jenny 6:00 am on January 31, 2008 Permalink |
Your meringue swirl draws you in, saying EAT ME!! 🙂
Jen 10:57 am on January 31, 2008 Permalink |
Great job on your LMP – it looks beautiful and the filling held up perfectly 🙂
Claire 6:38 pm on January 31, 2008 Permalink |
Great swirly meringue. Glad you don’t skip out on the DB challenges. You just need to find a group of friends to be tasters for you…that’s what I do! (or family!) 🙂
Jessica 9:33 am on February 2, 2008 Permalink |
Your meringue is so unique looking! Great job!