Shiny Top Brownies were the result of an experiment putting Black Silk instant coffee packets into a particular brownie batter -- one that always bakes up with a very shiny top.
In this case, the shiny top comes from the melted sugar, so a step in the recipe is to melt the sugar gently after adding it to the chocolate mixture in the saucepan. So you melt the chocolate and butter together, then add the sugar and cook the mixture a little bit more.
Shiny Top Brownies and Extra Dark Chocolate
Speaking of sugar, these brownies are sweet. It's important to use extra dark chocolate chips. I used Guittard 63% chips which come in the shiny red bag. I think typical semisweet chocolate chips such as Toll House might make these a bit too sweet, but with the 63% chips combined with coffee and walnuts, the sweetness was just right. As for the texture, these are fudgy and dense without being greasy.
Recipe
Shiny Top Brownies
Ingredients
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into chunks
- ½ cup 84 grams plus another ½ cup for later extra dark (63%) chocolate chips**
- 1 packet Folgers Black Silk Fresh Breaks or 1 tsp. espresso powder
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons 220 grams granulated sugar
- ½ cup plus 2 tablespoons 70 grams cake flour or White Lily flour
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 tablespoon natural unsweetened cocoa powder
- 2 large cold eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- ½ cup chopped and toasted walnuts
Instructions
- Do not preheat the oven quite yet.
- Melt the butter in a 3 quart saucepan over medium low heat. Add ½ cup of the chocolate chips and quickly remove from heat. With a heat-resistant rubber scraper, gently stir until the chocolate chips have melted from the heat of the butter.
- Stir in the sugar and set the pan over low heat, stirring gently for about 2 minutes or just until the mixture is shiny and sugar has started to dissolve. Do not let it boil. Remove from heat and stir in the packet of Black Silk.
- Let cool for about 20 minutes.
- While the chocolate mixture is cooling, preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
- Grease an 8-inch glass dish and line it with parchment paper.
- Mix together the cake flour (or White Lily), salt, baking powder and cocoa powder and set aside.
- After the chocolate mixture has cooled for about 20 minutes, stir in the eggs (still using the scraper), one by one. Do not beat them in, just stir gently. Stir in the vanilla.
- Add the flour mixture and stir until it is incorporated, then stir in the remaining half cup of chocolate chips (making sure the batter is cool enough so that they don’t melt).
- Pour the batter into the prepared pan and level it out. Sprinkle with walnuts.
- Bake on center rack for 35 minutes. Let cool completely. I like to chill them for a while, but this is optional. Lift from the pan and cut into squares.
Anna says
Sorry the first batch didn't work out, but those soft centered (I'm guessing it was a truffle type bar?) never work. I think the filling has too much sugar and other junk. Glad to hear the second batch worked. By the way, I like cooking with the Dove squares too.
Jennifer J-W says
I made these and they did come out really good (the second time.)
The first batch, I goofed up. I added the chocolate to the butter, added the sugar, and it separated. I had frozen the bar so that I could chop it into pieces easier (it had seemed pretty soft in my hot kitchen.) Turns out, it was soft because it was one of those bars with a soft, melty-type center. Oopps.. did not work. I ended up dumping it, afraid the texture would not be right. In this case, my bargain shopping for clearanced chocolate bars did not pay off!
Anyway, the 2nd batch was perfect. I actually used a 70% dark bar from Aldi for the melted chocolate and a mix of that and some dove dark chocolate squares chopped up, for the mixed in part.
Sue says
Very nice looking brownies!
Anna says
Thanks KAnn! It's new. I'm going to try to update it often.
KAnn says
Love the FB page....didn't know it existed!
Anna says
Hi Jan,
I think it would work in an 8 1/2 x 4 1/2 inch loaf pan, but if you try to use a 9x5 inch the brownies will be thinner and will probably take less time to cook. But it should work! The pastry flour should be fine.
Jan Harris says
Boy, those do look good. Do you think I could halve the recipe and bake in a loaf pan like some of your other recipes? Also, I have some pastry flour, is that the same as cake flour?
C L says
Coffee and chocolate?...sigh of contentment. 🙂
Cynna says
They look yummy! I almost always add coffee to chocolate recipes--it enhances the the flavor of the chocolate and gives it more depth.