Chocolate rye brownies
Here in California, where I am today, it’s morning, but where you readers are it’s already afternoon, which means I am – as it often happens – late! For what, you might ask? For Labna’s birthday!!!
Today we celebrate nothing less than 9 years of stories, recipes, and chatter on these pages. Incredible, right?
Nine years is… a lot! Sometimes I say as a joke – but there is a hint of truth to it – that in a certain way, Labna is the longest relationship I have maintained in my life: it lasted more than all of my past boyfriends! Labna is certainly the activity to which I have dedicated myself with more passion and, above all, with more consistency over the years: it really is the one thing I have never abandoned.
Is there anything in your life that you have consistently kept alive over the years? And if so, what was your trick to maintain your interest and enthusiasm?
And also … do you have any nice piece of advice for me to improve Labna?
I would appreciate your opinion: it would surely help me to get to celebrate the tenth anniversary of Labna next year in good shape!
To celebrate Labna’s birthday, Manuel and I wanted to have a nice cake on the blog, so I decided to share with you my favorite treat of the moment, a perfect indulgence for breakfast and dessert alike: chocolate rye brownies!
My dietician insists that if I really must bake sweets, at least I should do it with healthier flours such as rye and spelt. That’s why lately I started experimenting a lot with rye, which I love: after making my own rye sourdough starter and my delicious 100% rye bread I decided to try my hand at desserts. These chocolate rye brownies are the first success, but stay tuned for rye cookies coming up on the blog soon too.
The original recipe comes from The Violet Bakery Cookbook, which I highly recommend for all things baking British style.
Chocolate rye brownies
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup unsalted butter cut into small pieces, plus more for the pan
- 10 1/2 ounces dark chocolate
- 1/2 cup cocoa powder
- 1 1/3 cups whole grain rye flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup sugar
- 1 cup plus 2 tablespoons light brown sugar
- 4 eggs
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 1 pinch flaky salt like Maldon, for sprinkling
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 355 F.
- Butter an 8x12 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper.
- In a heatproof bowl, melt together the butter and the chocolate over a pan of water that’s been brought to a boil and then taken off the heat. Allow the mixture to rest, stirring occasionally as it melts.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, whisk together the sugars, eggs and vanilla until light and fluffy. Slowly add the melted chocolate, followed by the dry ingredients. Mix just enough to combine.
- Pour into the prepared baking pan and smooth the top with an icing spatula or rubber spatula.
- Bake for 20-25 minutes, until the brownies are set but with a slight wobble.
- Sprinkle with a bit of flaky salt. Leave to cool completely in the pan before slicing into squares. These chocolate rye brownies keep well in an airtight container for a week or so.
