Triple Chocolate Brownies
Triple Chocolate Brownies w/ dulce de leche and Cyprus black lava salt flakes
not-too-sweet, deep chocolate brownies with decadent dulce de leche.
Hey there, friends! Kay here this time with another decadent two-in-one dessert.
After a few weeks of unsuccessful attempts to satisfy my current sweet craving, I realized the fix was simple . . . brownies.
I wanted brownies. Nice, dense, fudgy, brownies.
But I wanted something less “school lunch”, (not that those aren’t good), and more “grown-up.” I’m just saying that in my food experiences with children, dark chocolate is not a first choice. I’ve usually witnessed children gravitate more towards the milk chocolate, or the white chocolate (which isn’t really chocolate, but that’s for another blog post), when given the option. It even took me until my early teenage years to truly enjoy the dynamic aspects of chocolate, and I still continue to learn more on the subject.
With that being said, these brownies are made with traditional cocoa powder, dark cocoa powder, and semi-sweet chocolate shards, accompanied by coffee and cayenne. This combination results in a deeper, more intense chocolate flavor.
A smidgen of cayenne. . .
Yup. We are bringing chillis to this party, and they deserve to be here.
Chocolate and chillis go together beautifully, and have been bonded for hundreds of years by wonderful people such as the Aztecs. I’m not here to mess up a good thing, and it’s a GREAT thing.
This recipe does not include enough cayenne to get the spiciness, but enough to level-up the chocolate. I just used a smidgen (1/32 tsp).
You are in no way expected to secure a smidgen measuring spoon for this recipe (lol), so just sprinkle a very tiny amount in your dry ingredients and all is well.
semi-sweet chocolate shards
To be folded into the batter lastly.
Can you replace this with a different kind of chocolate?
Absolutely!
Just keep in the mind the variations in sweetness for various kinds of baking chocolate.
Reference: Most chocolate chip cookies are made with semi-sweet chocolate shards or chips.
dulce de leche
To pour over the top after baking.
If you make your dulce de leche after your brownies, you can pour it on top while it is still slightly warm.
If you made this sauce ahead, then good for you! Just remember that when the sauce is cooled it has a pudding-like consistency, and will not pour.
Melt your dulce de leche using a double-boiler, or by heating in the microwave in 5-10 second intervals.
Cyprus black lava salt flakes
To finish.
No, you don’t need these. If you have them that is AWESOME, but they are not necessary to create an excellent brownie. Honestly, I’ve just been wanting to excuse to use these again and they fit the flavor profile perfectly. Regular sea salt flakes are completely fine.
Random fact: I got these salt flakes from The Salt Table in Savannah, GA. That place is awesome and you will want ALL of the salts and sugars they offer, which are A LOT. (This visit was pre-COVID, of course.)
Although some of the ingredients may seem somewhat dynamic, the prep and making of these brownies is fairly basic stuff. They can even be made in one-bowl if you sift your dry ingredients directly into your wet. I find it helpful to sift my dry ingedients together onto a paper plate to make them easier to incorporate. The rest is easy.
Prep your pan with parchment.
Combine your sugars, butter and oil.
Whisk in your eggs one at a time.
Slowly add in your sifted dry ingredients.
Add vanilla.
Fold in your chocolate.
Bake.
Cool.
Finish with dulce de leche and salt flakes.
See? Pretty regular stuff here.
The Ultimate Baker’s Tip: Bake at 300 for 15 minutes, then take them OUT of the oven.
I may have just uprooted everything you know about great brownie baking, but trust me . . . THIS is the way.
Bake your brownies for 15 minutes, then remove from the oven and cool on a rack for 15 minutes. Return the pan to the oven and bake until a toothpick comes out clean (or a thermometer inserted into the middle of the brownie reads 195°F.) This will be another 20-25 minutes for this recipe (because these brownies are thin.)
The results are the best textured brownie you can ever bake.
I take no credit for this method, and learned it from the ever-so-awesome, Chef Alton Brown. (And these brownies are indeed, “Good Eats” lol.)
Remember that these are brownies and they are very forgiving to additives and alternatives.
Can I substitute the dark cocoa for all traditional unsweetened?
Absolutely! I wanted a darker chocolate flavor for this, but go with what inspires you!
Can I add candy?
Why not?!
How about caramel instead of dulce de leche?
Yup, that works, too!
Feel free to switch it up when making this recipe. A “perfect brownie” is different for all of us, so make what moves you!
Wishing you all love,
Bake away!
- Kay
