Easy Chocolate Brownies With Peppermint Bark

Pin It

Christmas is a time to simplify, at least when it comes to baking.  Let's face it, we have the front door to decorate, the tree to pick out and trim, all the sales, virtual and otherwise, to hit before everything is gone, presents to buy and wrap, rooms to decorate, silver to polish, and on and on.  Some of us like to bake goodies to have around the house when guests drop in or to wrap and send to family and friends.  The whole process can take up to Spring if you are not careful and pace yourself. Remember you have Christmas dinner to host and that's when you really want to shine. Save yourself for that.  That's the main event and what all of us really look forward to.

I make tons of these every year for the holidays.  They are festive, yummy and, no matter the age, our family and guests really enjoy them .  They travel well so they are perfect for packaging and they make excellent hostess gifts. If you are having a holiday party, these are a great addition to the dessert table;  AND if you are having weekend guests put some of these in a box or on a plate next to their bedside table.  You couldn't ask for more!

The original recipe is simple enough and you can go that route if you want.  Better still, the Ghirardelli mix is quite good so why not save time.  Either way, you will be pleased with the results.

Chocolate Brownies with Peppermint Bark Original Recipe

Ingredients:

1 ¹/₂ cups Ghirardelli 60% Cacao Bittersweet Chocolate Chips
1 ¹/₂ sticks unsalted butter (12 tablespoons)
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1 cup sugar
¹/₄ teaspoon salt
¹/₂ cup + 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
¹/₂ teaspoon baking powder

8 Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark SQUARES™ chocolates, chopped into large chunks (for the brownies)

18 Ghirardelli Peppermint Bark SQUARES™ chocolates, broken in to large chunks (about 8 pieces per square) (for the finishing)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with foil and grease with pan spray.

In a medium saucepan, bring 2 inches of water to a gentle simmer. Put the 60% chips and butter in a heatproof bowl and set it over (but not touching) the simmering water. Stir the mixture with a rubber spatula until the better is melted and both ingredients are completely combined. Turn off the heat and leave the bowl over the warm water.

 Sift together the flour and baking powder and set aside.

In a large bowl whisk together eggs, salt, sugar and vanilla. Add the egg mixture to the chocolate mixture and whisk together gently. With a spatula, fold in the flour. Immediately pour ½ the mixture into the prepared baking pan and spread it evenly. Next, sprinkle the chopped peppermint bark over the batter and then pour the remaining batter over this. Spread evenly.

Bake for 15-20 minutes. The center should be fudgy but not dry. Remove from the oven and cool for 10 minutes.

Place Peppermint Bark chunks on top of warm brownies and allow them to soften for 1 minute. Using a spatula, gently swirl the melting Peppermint Bark to create swirls of melted chocolate.

Refrigerate for 1 hour. Trim the 4 edges of the brownies by 1/4 inch. And cut into 18 squares.

My Easy version:

1 Box Ghirardelli's Triple Chocolate Brownies
1 tsp. Peppermint Extract
16 Perppermint Bark Squares
Crushed Peppermint Candy

I used a 9x9 square pan (glass)

Follow the directions on the box .  Add a teaspoon of the peppermint extract to the batter.  Cook as directed.

With the brownies still hot from the oven lay the peppermint squares side by side and touching on top so the will melt.  Place back in the oven for a minute or two until almost melted.  Take out and swirl with spatula or tooth pick.  Sprinkle the crushed peppermint candy on top. Wait until cooled to cut.

Trim the 4 edges of the brownies by 1/4 inch. And cut into 16 squares.

Notes: If you lay the squares whole instead of broken up, they take about 4 minutes to melt in the oven.  If you go that route, take brownies out about 5 minutes before they are done so they won't over cook. 

Original Recipe from Ghirardelli
This post originally appeared on my blog My Kitchen By The Lake December 2013

Dorie Greenspan's Raspberry Lemon Squares

Pin It

These squares are everything you have ever dreamed of in a lemon bar, plus more.  They were our dessert this past Fourth of July.  Unfortunately, I started a bit later than I expected and didn't let them cool enough before I cut them.  That's what you get when you are hassled and try to do too many things at once.  Baking shouldn't be one of them.

The crust is an almond crust and it is nice and firm, not soggy as in a lot of recipes.  The filling is lemony but not too and perfectly sweetened.  The addition of raspberries is the icing on the cake.  I had two boxes of blueberries in the refrigerator and toyed with the idea of making the squares, half raspberry and half blueberries to see the difference.  In the end, I decided to save the blueberries for muffins at another time. Glad I did.  Loved the raspberries!

The only thing I would change is to cut back on the final cooking time to 8 minutes instead of 10 to 13 minutes so the raspberries don't cook so much and come out firmer.  I have a convection oven which runs hot and that was perhaps my problem.  Just a thought, it's up to you, but watch that final cooking time.  If you do that, make sure you cook them previously for 35 instead of 30 minutes so the lemon filling is really cooked and set.

The recipe comes from Dorie Greenspan's new cookbook Baking Chez Moi and was developed for Driscoll, the raspberry company.  That was what prompted me to try it.  You know what Madame Mere says.....

This is not a quick recipe to make.  It has a lot of "down time". The original tells you the cooking time is 30 minutes.  Between the crust, the filling and the final baking of the bars, it is more than 80 minutes. Plus the waiting time to let the curd and the crust cool.   Give yourself the morning to make it or, better yet, make it the night before. They are much easier to cut when they are cold.  Do make them, you will be well rewarded and asked to make them again and again.

INGREDIENTS

Lemon Curd Filling

• 4 large eggs
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• Finely grated zest of 2 lemons
• 2/3 cup freshly squeezed Meyer lemon juice (from 8-10 lemons)
• 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) unsalted butter, cut into small chunks

Crust and Crumbs

• 2 sticks plus 2 tablespoons (9 ounces) unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 1 1/4 cups sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup almond flour
• 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
• 
  
• 2 packages (6 ounces each) Driscoll's Raspberries (3 1/2 to 4 cups)
• Confectioners' sugar, for dusting (optional)

Directions:

Filling

Working in a heavy-bottomed medium saucepan, whisk the eggs and sugar together until well blended. Whisk in the zest and lemon juice, then drop in the chunks of butter. Put the saucepan over medium heat and start whisking, taking care to work the whisk into the edges of the pan. If your whisk is too big to clean the edges, switch to a wooden spoon or heatproof spatula. Whisk without stop, and, in 8 to 10 minutes, the buttery curd will thicken. It won't get terribly thick--it thickens more as it chills--but you'll notice that your whisk leaves tracks. The sign that the curd is ready is a bubble or two burbling to the surface, then popping. Immediately remove the pan from the heat and scrape the curd into a heatproof bowl. Place a piece of plastic film against the surface and refrigerate the curd until it's cold all the way through. (Packed airtight, the curd can stay in the fridge for a couple of weeks.)

When You're Ready to Bake

Center a rack in the oven and preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Butter a 9-x-13-inch baking pan. Cut a piece of parchment paper to about 13 x 17 inches or so that about 2 inches hang over the edge of each side of the pan. Place the parchment paper inside the pan and butter the paper.

To Make the Crust and Crumbs

Put the butter, sugar, salt and vanilla in a food processor and whir until the mixture is blended. Add the almond flour and blend until smooth. Add the flour and pulse, stopping as needed to scrape the bowl, until you've worked the flour into the other ingredients and have moist, bumpy curds of dough. Reach in--if the dough holds together when you pinch it, it's ready.

Turn the dough out onto the counter and knead it gently to gather it together. Cut off one third of the dough, cover it and set it aside. Press the rest of the dough evenly over the bottom of the lined pan. Prick the dough all over with a fork.

Bake the crust for 15 - 18 minutes, or until it's pale golden all over. It will puff a bit and still feel soft to the touch, so judge its readiness by its color. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let the crust cool to room temperature.

If you've turned off the oven, heat it to 375 degrees F again.

Scatter 1 package (1 3/4 to 2 cups) of raspberries over the crust. Stir the chilled curd to get it moving then, using a long offset spatula or the back of a spoon, spread the filling evenly over the berries. Pinch off small pieces of the reserved dough and scatter them over the filling - you'll have enough dough to almost completely cover the curd.

Bake the lemon squares 30 minutes, rotating the pan after about 20 minutes. Working quickly, remove the pan from the oven and scatter the remaining raspberries over the crumbs, gently and lightly pressing them into the topping. Return the pan to the oven and bake for another 10 to 13 minutes. The filling will puff - and it should puff all the way to the center - the lemon curd will caramelize around the edges (my favorite part) and the crumbs will be golden brown. Transfer the pan to a cooling rack and let stand for at least 2 hours (and up to 6 hours) before cutting.

Use the edges of the parchment paper to carefully lift the lemon squares out of the pan and set on the counter or rack. Invert a plate over the lemon squares and turn the plate and lemon squares over and then peel away the parchment paper. Using a long, slender knife, cut the cake into 12 squares, about 3 inches on a side. Serve now or chill - the bars are delicious at room temperature, when the crust is almost as tender as the filling, and just as good chilled, when all the elements are firm but the filling melts in your mouth.

Dust with confectioners' sugar, if you'd like, just before serving.

Storing: Well wrapped, the squares will keep in the refrigerator for about 5 days; wrapped airtight, they can be frozen for up to 2 months. Defrost the squares, still wrapped, overnight in the refrigerator.

Recipe adapted from Dorie Greenspan
Photos Lindaraxa