Best Brownies

I'm playing with 'The very hungry caterpillar' story in a kindergarten with children, we're learning about food, I give them different food to taste (connected with a story) and here we are in front of a chocolate cake, one of the things a catepillar ate in that story. So I decided to bake them one. I chose that brownie, hesitating a little - I wasn't sure if it will be good for them - it is 70% chocolate, hmmm, they might not like it... 

I was amazed at the lesson, when they were saying 'chocolate cake please' with their mouth full of previous piece :D so - brownie tested - children will definitely love it ;)

P.S. Oh, it simply must be delicious ;) It's Martha's favourite :) I changed the original recipe a little bit :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) of margarine, cut into small pieces + more to grease the baking pan
• 2/3 cup  flour + some more to sprinkle the baking pan (alternatively, it is also good to use cocoa powder)
• 1/2 teaspoon of salt
• 12 ounces of 70% chocolate, chopped
• 1 1/4 cups of packed light-brown sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Preparation:

1. Grease a smaller baking pan. Dust with flour/cocoa. Tap out excess and set aside. 
2. Sieve flour and salt in a small bowl, set aside as well.
3. Take a non-stick pot, put chocolate and margarine inside and boil on a very low heat, so that it won't  burn. Instead, you can make a 'bath'. Stir from time to time. When done, pour to a different pot/bowl and set aside (or keep stiring), to let it cool completely.
4. Start preheating the oven to 190C. 
5. When the chocolate is completely cool, take a mixer's bowl, put sugar and eggs inside and beat on a high speed till bright (3-5 minutes). Reduce speed to low and add chocolate mixture and the vanilla. Add flour. Mix only till it is well combined.
6. Distribute the mixture all over the pan, prepared at the very beginning. 
7. Bake for 20-30 minutes (until top of the brownie has cracked and its center is soft or until the toothpick comes out with moist crumbs). 
8. Let it cool completely. 
9. Cut into squares.
10. Store in an airtight container up to 2 days.
11. Bon Appetit! :)

Caramel Brownie

We had a small family party last week, so I was preparing a big pineapple cake (recipe later ;) ) and simultaneously I was looking for something in totally different, opposite taste to my fresh, fruit, light sponge cake. That's when I found that recipe. Believe me, that's the best brownie I've ever eaten! Cruelly tasty, extremely chocochocolate with light, caramel cream, caramel sauce and crunchy peanuts. 
Precious advice: cut into small pieces. Thanks to that remorses for eating the cake are smaller ;)

I do recommend preparing it! ;)

Recipe comes from Kwestia Smaku

Chocolate cake:

• 200g of at least 70% dark chocolate
• 200g of butter
• 3 eggs
• 220g of sugar or powdered sugar
• 120g of flour

Caramel Cream:

• 67g of butter
• 1/2 glass of sugar
• 1/2 glass of water
• 2 glasses of powdered milk
• 100g of roasted peanuts
• 25g of mascarpone cheese

Caramel Sauce:

• 67g of butter
• 1/3 glass of sugar
• 1/2 glass of 36% cream
• 4 full tablespoons of glucose

Top:

• 150-200g of roasted peanuts

Preparation:

1. If you haven't found roasted peanuts, take a frying pan, put some peanuts on it, so that they cover the entire surface,and fry for few minutes till the colour is gold. 
2. Take the smallest rectangular tin you have, grease and cover with baking paper. I used springform cake tin, as it was my smallest one. And I do recommend using it, it will be very useful at the end, unless you have rectangular with removable sides. Of course it is possible to use bigger tin - but then all the ingredients need to be doubled. 

Brownie cake:

1. Take a double-bottom pot, put chocolate and butter inside, melt on a very low heat, stiring all the time (keep observing it, it starts burning very quickly! it needs to be a liquid). Put aside to let it cool down. 
2. Take a mixer and its bowl, put eggs and sugar inside, beat for around 7-10 minutes to get a bright, fluffy foam. 
3. When the chocolate is cooled down, start pouring it slowly to the beaten eggs, mixing all the time on the slowest mixer's rotation. 
4. Add flour, mix on the slowest rotation till it links. 
5. Pour the dough to previously prepared tin and bake for 25 minutes in 170C. 
6. After 25 minutes, take it out from the oven, cool down, in the tin.

Caramel Cream:

1. Take a pot, put butter inside, melt. Add sugar. Keep heating, on a low heat, stiring from time to time. Be careful not to burn it. 
2. When the sugar will start getting gold, add (be careful ! ) water and stir till the sugar melts again. 
3. Cool down a little and add powdered milk, gradually, stiring after every adding or mixing it. 
4. Add mascarpone and mix - again, using a blender of mixer (yes, it will be very thick). 
5. Chop the peanuts and add to the cream. Stir, using a spoon.

Caramel Sauce:

1. Take a pot, put butter inside, melt. Add sugar. Heat on a very low heat, stiring all the time. 
2. When the sugar will start getting gold, add (be careful ! ) 36% cream. 
3. Boil for a while, till the sugar melts again. 
4. Cool down a little, add glucose, stir, cool down completely.

Preparing the cake:

1. When the brownie cake is cooled down, take it out from the tin, cut across using a knife or a thread. Gently put one piece aside. 
2. Put one half of the caramel cream all over the 'bottom piece' of the cake. Put the second piece of the cake on it. 
3. Put the second half of the caramel creme all over the second piece. 
4. Now - advisably - put the cake back in a tin. 
5. Sprinkle with peanuts. 
6. Pour the caramel sauce all over the top (that's the moment when springform cake tin is perfect - nothing spills out) 
7. Put in the fridge for at least an hour so that everything stiffens. 
8. Take the cake out of the fridge, take out the side of the tin (blessed springform cake tin), cut into small pieces. 
9. Bon Appetit! :)