Monday, June 17, 2013

Dutch Oven Brownies

The other day, when I was working up the chocolate chicken recipe, I thought to make it a whole chocolate day, and decided to make a great dessert, too.  My first thought was a chocolate cake, but I decided to make brownies instead.  I looked up a good recipe, tweaked it a little and here it is!

I’ve recently been discovering just how much I like molasses as a flavoring.  It sweetens, but it also adds a depth and richness.  I don’t know how else to say that.  I really like it.


10” Dutch oven

9-10 coals below
18-22 coals above

Ingredients

Soft butter, for greasing the pan
Flour, for dusting the buttered pan

4 large eggs

2 cup sugar
1 Tbsp molasses

8 ounces melted butter
11/4 cups cocoa
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 cup flour, sifted
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1 16 oz bag chocolate chips


I started by lighting up a lot of coals.  While that was catching, I broke the eggs into a bowl and began whisking.  I beat them for a good 15 minutes or so, until they were smooth, creamy and getting a bit fluffy, a light yellow.  I was surprised just how thick and airy the brownies ended up (airy for brownies, that is). I added in the sugar and molasses, and whisked it all together.

I got out the 10” shallow Dutch oven and put about 24 or so coals on the lid to preheat.  Then, I buttered the base of the Dutch oven pretty heavily, and dusted it with flour as well.  I was planning on cutting and serving the brownies directly from the Dutch, so I didn’t put any parchment down.  Had I been planning on extracting it as a disc, like a cake, I would have cut a parchment circle and put it down.

While the lid was heating, I added all of the remaining ingredients into the bowl and whisked and stirred some more.  I worked it until it was smooth, which didn’t really take long.   I held back some of the chocolate chips for later.

I poured the batter into the Dutch oven, and took it out to the coals and put the lid on.  Then, I adjusted the coals to the numbers shown above, and marked the time.  After 15-20 minutes, I rotated the oven a quarter turn, and the lid as well, to prevent burns from hot spots.  After another 15-20 minutes, I turned it again, and lifted the lid to check on the progress.   I checked it with a toothpick in the center. Almost done!

After about another 10 minutes, the toothpick came out clean, and I pulled it off the coals.  I brought it in and let it cool, uncovered.  It’s tough, but I encourage you to resist the urge to eat it too quickly.  Let it cool, at least until it’s just barely warm.  While it’s still hot, scatter the remaining chocolate chips over the top and let the residual heat melt them.  Another alternative topping is to sprinkle it with powdered sugar through a sifter.

We loved them! Especially after eating the chocolate chicken.  A week or so later, my son cooked this up (increased for 2 12” Dutch ovens) at his scout campout, and won his troop the Golden Spatula!



Mark has discovered a love of Dutch Oven Cooking. Mark also has other sites and blogs, including MarkHansenMusic.com and his MoBoy blog.

4 comments:

  1. Aloha,

    I didn't even know I *had* a Dutch Oven...

    (Whispers...)

    Oh, I don't :) but I'm going to buy one just for this recipe. My wife will freak out :)

    Thanks, congrats on the book and MUCH SUCCESS :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. What type of cocoa did you use? What it a dutch processed cocoa powder?

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hello! Thanks for a great question. I just used ordinary supermarket cocoa powder. That's what I had on hand. Whenever you can use better quality ingredients, like a dutch processed powder, it will taste better. I like to use Giradeli's (sp?) chocolate chips, whenever I can afford them!

    ReplyDelete

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