I love brownies. You just can’t deny their deliciousness. I’ve made many recipes, each of which has been mighty tasty. Then something amazing happened. I was introduced to perhaps the best brownie that has ever touched my lips at a little cafe near my office (dangerous!) called City Girl Cafe. It is an intense chocolate overload in the best way possible. Apparently they use valhrona chocolate, an ingredient I’d heard about but never used. After tasting that brownie I just had to try to make it at home. I picked up a container of the chocolate and set out to recreate those brownies. The result turned out to be different than I expected, but a star in it’s own right due to the use of a different ingredient, Maldon salt.
I based this recipe off one I found in the Baked cookbook. Turns out I didn’t quite buy enough chocolate (it’s a little pricey and I’m a little cheap sometimes). I went ahead and made the brownies with half the required chocolate because it seemed like a lot. I’m just a little crazy like that. I also decided to mix things up by using Maldon salt, a large grain, flaky and pure salt. I didn’t think too much of it and went about getting these puppies in the oven and into to my belly asap.
A few things crossed my mind when I tasted the brownies. First, there was enough chocolate. I’m sure if I’d had the proper amount of chocolate they would have been outrageous and probably very close to the City Girl brownies, but these were still super tasty. Second, while they were super tasty, they didn’t quite stand on par with City Girl’s version. Third, the salt became the star of the show and totally won me over. They are lovely brownies, with a texture between that of cake and goo, which is where I always aim when making brownies. The best part about them though is that every now and then you hit a tiny, salty crunch and it is heaven. I absolutely love the sweet and salty flavors together, so this really hits the spot. Ahhh, I love unexpected treats but don’t you worry, I’m still on a quest to make those City Girl brownies…
fancy salt brownies
makes 16 big brownies
adapted from The Baked Brownie
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon maldon salt
2 Tablespoons dark unsweetened cocoa powder
6 ounces valhrona chocolate
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch pieces
1 teaspoon instant espresso powder
1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
5 large eggs, at room temperature
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350° F
Butter sides and bottom of 9×13 inch glass or light colored metal baking pan
1
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, salt and cocoa powder together.
2
Put the chocolate, butter and instant espresso powder in a large bowl and set it over a saucepan of simmering water, stirring occasionally, until the chocolate and butter are completely melted and smooth.
3
Turn off the heat, but keep the bowl over the water and add the sugars. Whisk until completely combined, then remove the bowl from the pan.
4
When the mixture is room temperature, add 3 eggs to the chocolate mixture and whisk until combined.
5
Add the remaining eggs and whisk until combined.
6
Add the vanilla and stir until combined. Do not overbeat the batter at this stage or your brownies will be cakey.
7
Sprinkle the flour mixture over the chocolate mixture. Using a spatula, not a whisk, fold the flour mixture into the chocolate until just a bit of flour is visible.
8
Pour the batter into the pan and smooth the top. Bake in the center of the oven for 30 minutes, rotating the pan halfway through.
9
Let the brownies cool completely, then cut.
Tightly covered with plastic wrap, the brownies keep at room temperature for up to 3 days.
August 10th, 2009 at 7:45 am
Salt almost always makes sweet better. Great job on your own recipe. Can’t wait to try them!
August 10th, 2009 at 7:47 am
oh wow, you had me at “salt” Kelly! Love sweet & salty.
August 10th, 2009 at 11:22 am
Question I have never heard of maldon salt?? Can u buy it at a regular supermarket??
August 10th, 2009 at 12:32 pm
Mmm, salt and chocolate, a winning combination.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:54 pm
It’s one of the hottest nights of the year, but I still have to make these asap after seeing this recipe and photos. I’m sure in my salted chocolate delight I will forget double ovenness of my apartment in no time. Thanks!
August 10th, 2009 at 7:05 pm
kristen,
you can find maldon salt at most gourmet stores and some regular grocery stores. here’s a link so you can see what to look for.
http://www.maldonsalt.co.uk/
August 11th, 2009 at 1:19 am
Such a beautiful recipe! Maldon is awesome, but there are others, too! I recently used a Bali Rama pyramid salt that had great, poppy texture for some oatmeal chocolate chip cookies.
August 11th, 2009 at 1:46 pm
Oh wow, I too love the salt and chocolate combination. I might even add some burnt caramel eventually! Love this.
August 13th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Oh gosh these looks so good, salt always enhances the sweet. I wonder if Whole Foods has Maldon Salt? The “Goop” blog mentioned it a few weeks back and I’ve been wanting to pick up some! Can’t wait to try these brownies!
http://fondlyoptimistic.blogspot.com/
August 16th, 2009 at 2:38 am
Do you have suggestions of what to substitute for the fancy chocolate and salt? I can’t find those brands where I live, but these brownies sound delicious…
August 16th, 2009 at 7:06 am
june-
i would use the best chocolate you can find. perhaps some nice chocolate bars or a bag of nice chocolate chips. as for the salt, you’re going to want to find something that has a large grain to it. fleur de sal is another salt that is large, but it’s even fancier than maldon so I’m not sure if that’s the best option. you could always sprinkle a little kosher salt over the top of the brownies about halfway through baking and have the salt on top instead of inside. good luck!
August 16th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
I actually managed to find the chocolate at Trader Joe’s, and it was definitely worth it. I just used coarse-grained sea salt instead of Maldon. Unfortunately, I mixed up “tablespoon” and “teaspoon”, so my batch turned out way too salty…Boo! They still taste good, though, even being too salty.
October 22nd, 2009 at 1:41 pm
i have a question: you say to add the sugars to the melted chocolate and butter while still over the heat, but the first step you give is to combine the flour and sugars in another bowl. i’m confused — you then say to fold in the flour mixture at the very end. can you help?! am i missing something??
October 22nd, 2009 at 2:17 pm
hi emily,
thanks for pointing that out. i’m sorry about that. I did make a mistake when I wrote it, you should add the sugars to the melted chocolate and butter, not the flour.
you then fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture. i hope that helps!
October 24th, 2009 at 1:18 pm
I had to use a less fancy chocolate (I went with Green & Black’s organic baking bar), but these were so amazing I had to blog about them. I gave you credit, of course. THANK YOU! My life has been changed.
http://snackreligious.blogspot.com/2009/10/dare-i-say-it-better-than-boxed.html
April 6th, 2010 at 9:56 pm
I gave you credit, of course. THANK YOU! My life has been changed.
April 28th, 2010 at 6:51 pm
Please excuse the elementary question here–I’m a tyro at the culinary arts. This link popped up as I was searching for “do brownies have salt” because I’m not sure if I can use my salted butter in a chocolate mint brownie recipe. In this instance of “salt brownies,” why is unsalted butter specified?
April 29th, 2010 at 6:30 am
mark-
unsalted butter is specified because i’ve already used a controlled amount of salt (1 teaspoon) in the recipe.
to be honest, i don’t think salted vs unsalted butter makes a huge difference but the idea behind using unsalted is that you control the amount of salt.