Cross-posted from Kat Gaines’ personal blog The Wine-Y Tomato.
I’m too busy to bake because I’m putting the finishing touches on the first draft of my thesis this week, but secretly I’m daydreaming of whipping up a batch of these perfect brownies made with Ghirardelli chocolate and fresh-picked huckleberries. My mom and I made these with huckleberries we picked near my parents’ house this past summer, and they were worth turning on the oven in the warm temperatures. I still have some huckleberries in my freezer – I think these will be the first thing I make Monday after the first draft is turned in. 🙂
So without further ado (so I can get back to writing many, many pages of poetry):
Huckleberry Brownies
First, gather your ingredients:
4 oz Ghirardelli Unsweetened Chocolate (semi-sweet is also okay, I just like my brownies a little bittersweet)
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
1 cup sugar (I used white sugar but brown sugar is even better!)
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
3 large eggs
1 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1 cup huckleberries
3/4 cup plus 2 tbsp unbleached all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/8 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 350 F. Chop the chocolate into pieces and melt on low heat in a saucepan or in a double boiler with the butter.
Add the sugar, eggs, and vanilla to the melted butter and chocolate.
And then my favorite part:
The Carnivore (my boyfriend) would never go for these brownies, as he is allergic to nuts. So if I do make them my first-draft-turned-in-celebration-brownies, I’ll have to skip the walnuts. *grumble* Transfer the chocolate mixture into a large mixing bowl and stir in walnuts, flour, baking powder and salt.
Prepare a pan with shortening and dust with cocoa powder. You could dust it with flour, but cocoa powder is tastier.
Pour the batter into the pan…
And add the huckleberries on top. Smooth the batter out with a rubber spatula so that it is evenly distributed in the pan…
Put the brownies into the oven for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Let them cool for at least 10 minutes (if you can)…
…and enjoy.
…and now I have to finish my thesis.
And think about brownies.
A lot.
~Kat
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Butter and flour an 8-inch square baking pan. Chop the 4 ounces of semi sweet chocolate barsinto 1-inch pieces. In the top of a double boiler or in a heatproof bowl over barely simmering water, melt the 4 chopped chocolate and butter, stirring occasionally until smooth. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool to room temperature. Stir the brown sugar and vanilla into the chocolate mixture. Add the eggs and mix well. In a bowl, sift together flour, baking powder, and salt. Slowly fold the flour mixture into the chocolate mixture, mixing well until blended. Stir in the chocolate chips and pour the batter into the prepared pan.
Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and cool for at least 10 minutes before cutting into 2-inch squares.
